WHOOPING CRANE. 209 



birds of this species, so long as they are in their brown livery, and even 

 when they have begun to be patched with white ; but in old birds the 

 flesh becomes very dark, tough and unfit for the table, although the 

 Seminole Indians shoot them on all occasions for food. 



In captivity the Whooping Crane becomes extremely gentle, and feeds 

 freely on grain and other vegetable substances. A Mr Magwood, re- 

 siding near Charleston, in South Carolina, kept one for some time feed- 

 ing it on maize. It accidentally wounded one of its feet on the shell of 

 an oyster, and, although the greatest care was taken of it, died after lin- 

 gering some weeks. Having myself kept one alive, I will give you an ac- 

 count of its habits. 



It was nearly full-grown when 1 obtained it, and its plumage was 

 changing from greyish-brown to white. Its figure you will see in the 

 plate to which this article refers. I received it as a present from Captain 

 Clack of the United States Navy, commander of the Erie sloop of war. 

 It had been wounded in the wing, on the coast of Florida, but the frac- 

 tured limb had been amputated and soon healed. During a voyage of 

 three months, it became very gentle, and was a great favourite with the 

 sailors. I placed it in a yard, in company with a beautiful Snow Goose. 

 This was at Boston. It was so gentle as to suffer me to caress it with 

 the hand, and was extremely fond of searching for worms and grubs 

 about the wood- pile, probing every hole it saw with as much care and 

 dexterity as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. It also watched with all the 

 patience of a cat the motions of some mice which had burrows near the 

 same spot, killed them with a single blow, and swallowed them entire, one 

 after another, until they were extirpated. I fed it on corn and garbacre 

 from the kitchen, to which were added bits of bread and cheese, as well 

 as some apples. It would pick up the straws intended to keep its feet 

 from being soiled, and arrange them round its body, as if intent on form- 

 ing a nest. For hours at a time, it would stand resting on one foot in a very 

 graceful posture ; but what appeared to me very curious was, that it had 

 a favourite leg for this purpose ; and in fact none of my family ever found 

 it standing on the other, although it is probable that this happened in 

 consequence of the mutilation of the wing, the leg employed beino- that 

 of the injured side. The stump of its amputated wing appeared to be 

 a constant source of trouble, particularly at tlie approach of the win- 

 ter : it would dress the feathers about it, and cover it with so much care 

 that I really felt for the poor fellow. When the weather became intense- 



VOI.. III. s (. 



