GEUS. 337 



Only two eggs are laid, of the usual type, of a buflF or olive-buff colour, with spots 

 and blotches of brown distributed over the surface and markings of underlying pale 

 purple. 



2. Grns americana. 



The Hooping Crane, Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carol, i. p. 75, t. 75 \ 



Ardea americana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 234 ^ 



Grm americana, Dresser, Ibis, 1865, pp. 312 ', 314* ; 1866, p. 30' ; Duges, La Nat. i. p. 142' ; 



Jouy, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 790''; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. Water-Birds N. Amer. i. 



p. 404'; A. O. U. Check-1. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. p. 75'. 

 Limnogeranus americanus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 259 '". 



Alba ; ala spuria, tectricibus primariorum primariisque nigris ; capite, loris et genis nudis rufescentibus, his 

 et fronte vibrissis rigidis nigris indutis ; plaga nuchali triangulari ecbistaceo-Eigra : rostro flavo ; pedibus 

 cseruleseenti-nigris ; iride flava. Long, tota circa 48-0, alee 24-0, caiida>. 8-5, culm. 5-4, tarsi 10-8. (Descr. 

 avis adulti ex Brownsville, Texas. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. North America, from the Fur Countries to Florida, Texas, and Mexico, and from 

 Ohio to Colorado^. — Mexico, Matamoros (Z^resser ^ *^), Guadalajara {Duges ^), 

 Hacienda El Molino {Jouy ''). 



This fine species, known as the " Whooping Crane," is distinguished by its bare 

 head, the cheeks being also naked like the crown, aud having black bristles, but not 

 feathered as in the typical members of the genus Grus : only the region below and 

 behind the eye is feathered. It may also be recognized by its white plumage and 

 yellow bill. 



G. americana breeds in America, principally north of the 43rd parallel, also in the 

 prairies of Central Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Dakota, migrating south in winter s. 

 Its range formerly extended to the Atlantic coast, occasionally as far north as New 

 England ^. 



The species occurs in Mexico during the winter season, but the records are very 

 few. Mr. Dresser states that he saw two of these Cranes on his first visit to the lagoon 

 of Matamoros in June 1860, and he subsequently observed a small flock of seven or 

 eight 3^^. Jouy remarks '' : — "Several living specimens of this magnificent bird were 

 kept at the Hacienda El Molino by Senor Jose Maria Negrete, as one of the attractions 

 of his place. They were quite tame and walked freely about, guarded by an aged 

 peon with a stafi", whose sole duty it was to feed them, and drive them to and from 

 their watering-place." 



The habits of G. americana are very like those of G. canadensis, and it places its 

 nest in similar localities. Two eggs are laid, which are described by Brewer » as of 

 a deep greyish-white, washed with sepia, and marked sparsely, except at the larger 

 end, with bo-ld patches of dark rusty brown. 



BIOL. CENTR.-AMmR., Aves, Vol. HI., Aj)ril 1903. 43 



