WHOOPING CEANI. 507 



as that used in the fonndation. Four eggs, of a very faint greenish-blue tint and rounded 

 oval in shape, constitute a fall set ; those taken were incomplete, containing from two 

 to three eggs, which were fresh and probably the second laying' of the season. They 

 evidently build an entire new nest for the seccnd brood, as the grass was still fresh 

 and green in those observed.-"' 



ORDER ALECTORIDiE. CRANES, RAILS, ETC. 



FAMILY GRUID^. CRANES. 



Of great stature, with extremely long neck and legs. Part or all of the head bare. 

 Toes much shorter than the tarsi ; with basal webbing, but without lobation ; hallux 

 very short, highly elevated. Bill eqaalling or exceeding the head, compressed, perfectly 

 straight, contracted about the middle, with enlarged acute terminal portion ; nasal fossae 

 wide and deep, with large perforate nostrils. 



Gbnus GRUS. Linnaeus. 

 With the characters of the family. 



Gkus AMERICANA (L.) Temm. 



"VVliite Oz'aiie ; "Wliooping Craxie, 



Grus americana, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 165. 



CrruB americanus, Wheaton, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 368, 377 ; Reprint, 1861, 9, 19 ; 

 Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 573 ; Reprint, 1875, 13. — Langdon, 

 Cat. Birds of Gin, 1877, 15; Journ. Gin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 117 ; Reprint, 8 ; Re- 

 vised List, Journ. Gin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184 ; Reprint, 18. 



Ardea amerioana, lAirsMva, Syst. Nat., i, 1776, 234. 

 Grus americana, Tbmminck, Analyse. 



Adult with the bare part of head extending in a point on the occiput above, on each 

 side below the eyes, and very hairy. Bill very stout, convex, ascending, that part of 

 the under mandible as deep as the upper opposite it. Adult plumage pure white with 

 black primaries, primary coverts and alula; bill dusky-greenish; legs black; head car- 

 mine, the hair- like feathers blackish. Young with the head feathered ; general plum- 

 age gray (f) varied with brown. Length, about 50 inches ; wing, 24; tail, 9; tarsus, 12 ; 

 middle toe, 5 ; bill, 6. 



Habitat, temperate North America. Up the Mississippi Valley, spreading through 

 the fur countries. Texas to Florida, and occasionally upon the coast to the Middle 



States. 



Rare. Spring and fall migrant. Dr. Kirtland, who, following Audubon, 

 did not distinguish between this and the following species, says : 



"The Sandhill or Whooping Grane, the adjutant bird, occasionally visits Ohio. Dr 

 Ward imforms me that two were killed near Roscoe, in Coshocton county in 1837, and 

 the Hon. Calvin Pease also informs me that he once saw a flock of them in Fairfield 

 county." 



Mr. Langdon includes it in his Revised Lipt, two or three specimens 



