608 BIEDS — EALLID^. 



having been taken in the vicinity of Cincinnati. Mr. Mapes, a com- 

 petent ornithologist, informed me that he saw a flock of over fifty of these 

 birds flying over this city on the 26th of November, 1876. Dr. Coues 

 describes the eggs as follows : 



" Two eggs of the Whooping Crane are in the Smithsonian from Great Slave Lake, 

 where they were taken by Mr. J. Lockhart. Thongh from the same nest, one is noticeably 

 more elongated than the other, measuring about 3.90 by 2,65, the other being about 3.60 

 only, with the same width. The shell is much roughened with numerous elevations, 

 like little warts, and is, moreover, punotulate all over. The ground is a light brownish- 

 drab ; the markings are sparse, except at the great end ; they are large irregular spots 

 of a pale dull chocolate-brown, with still more obscure or nearly obsolete shell-mark- 

 ings." 



Qrv3 canadensis (L.) Temm. 



Brovyn Orane ; SandtiiU Crane. 



Grwa canadensis, Wheaton, Ohio Agric. Rep. for I860, 370,480; Reprint, 1861, 9; Food 

 of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1874, 573; Reprint, 1875, 13 — Lanodon, Cat. 

 Birds of Gin., 1877, 16; Revised List, Joarn. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184 ; Re- 

 print, 18. 



Ardea canadensis, lANttxvs, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 234. 

 Grua canadensis, Temminck, Analyse. 



Adult with the bare part of head forking behind to receive a pointed extension of the 

 occipital feathers, not reaching on the sides below the eyes, and sparsely hairy. Bill 

 moderately stout, with nearly straight and scarcely ascending gonjs, that part of the 

 under mandible not so deep as the upper at the same place. Adult plumage 

 plumbeous-gray never whitening ; primaries, their coverts, and alula, blackith. Young 

 with head feathered, and plnmage varied with rusty brown. Bather smaller than the 

 last. 



Habitat, United States from Florida and the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific, and in- 

 terior of the far countries. North to the Yukon and west coast of Baffin's Bay. Cuba. 

 Breeds apparently nearly throughout its range. 



Rare migrant ; probably occasional summer resident. The quotation 

 from Dr. Kirtland above, may refer to this species. Mr. Winslow in- 

 cludes it in his list of birds of Northern Ohio, and it has been reported 

 to me as breeding within a few years in the vicinity of Toledo. Mr. 

 Langdon mentions two specimens taken in the vicinity of Cincinnati. 

 I have never seen the bird in this vicinity, and though I have frequently 

 heard of its occurrence, the identification has never been unquestionable. 

 Both this bird and the Blue Heron are sometimes confounded under the 

 common name of Blue Crane. 



FAMILY RALLID^. RAILS, GALLINULES, ETC. 



Size moderate and small ; neck aud legs comparatively short. Head completely 

 feathered, excepting, iu the Coots and Gallinules, a broad horny frontal plate. Toes 



