208 WHOOPINU CRANE. 



beneath the broad feathers of the shoulder. In returning towards the 

 feeding grounds, they all emit their usual note, but in a very low under- 

 tone, leaving their roost at an earlier or later hour, according to the state 

 of the weather. When it is cold and clear, they start very early ; but 

 when warm and rainy, not until late in the morning. Their motions to- 

 ward night are determined by the same circumstances. They rise easily 

 from the ground after running a few steps, fly low for thirty or forty 

 yards, then rise in circles, crossing each other in their windings, like Vul- 

 tures, Ibises, and some other birds. If startled or shot at, they utter 

 loud and piercing cries. These cries, which I cannot compare to the 

 sounds of any instrument known to me, I have heard at the distance of 

 three miles, at the approach of spring, when the males were paying their 

 addresses to the females, or fighting among themselves. They may be in 

 some degree represented by the syllables kewrr, Jcewrr, kewrooh ; and 

 strange and uncouth as they are, they have always sounded delightful in 

 my ear. 



In December 1833, I sent my son to Spring Island, on the coast of 

 Georgia, to which these birds are in the habit of resorting every winter. 

 Mr Hammond, the proprietor of this island, treated him with all the hos- 

 pitality for which the southern planters are celebrated. The Cranes, 

 which were plentiful, resorted to the sweet potato fields, digging up their 

 produce as expertly as a troop of negroes. They walked carefully over 

 the little heaps, probed them in various parts in the manner of Wood- 

 cocks or Snipes, and whenever they hit upon a potato, removed the soil, 

 took out the root, and devoured it in rather small pieces. In this manner 

 they would search over the whole field, which was two miles in length, and 

 rather more than a quarter of a mile in breadth, gleaning all the potatoes 

 that had escaped the gatherers. They were so shy, however, that not- 

 withstanding all the endeavours of my son, who is a good hand at getting 

 in upon game, as well as a good shot, he only killed a young one, which 

 was evidently of that year's brood, it being yet almost reddish-brown, the 

 long feathers of the rump just beginning to shew, and the head yet cover- 

 ed with hairlike feathers to the mandible, and merely shewing between 

 them the wrinkled skin so conspicuous in the old birds. The specimen 

 procured on Spring Island was carefully examined and described, and 

 the skin is now in the British Museum in London. Its flesh was tender 

 and juicy, of a colour resembling that of young venison, and afforded ex- 

 cellent eating. This I have always found to be tlie case with young 



