THE CRANE FAMILY 139 



are the most beautiful species of all, the Paradise Crane is 

 the oddest in appearance, the little Demoiselle Crane, of the 

 Nile region, has the most amiable disposition. The big, 

 red-headed Saras Crane of India is the most quarrelsome, and 

 the stately Whooping Crane of North America is the species 

 which comes nearest to being pure white. 



Through some mischievous and unfortunate circumstance, 

 the great majority of the people who live in the eastern 

 United States have become almost fixed in the habit of call- 

 ing the great blue heron the "blue crane." The former is 

 common enough along watercourses and tidal rivers, but it is 

 probable that not more than one person out of every ten 

 thousand has ever seen in America a living wild crane. As 

 applied to wild birds, the word "crane" should be used most 

 sparingly. Along the Atlantic coast, the only locality in 

 which it might correctly be used afield is on the interior sa- 

 vannas of Florida. 



The Whooping Crane ^ is now one of the rarest of all 

 living North American birds. Fourteen years of diligent 

 quest for living specimens have produced but eight birds. 

 There were in captivity on January 1, 1914, exactly five 

 specimens, only two of which were in the United States. 

 Inasmuch as this bird is of no value save to zoological gardens, 

 it must be believed that it has been wantonly shot, down to 

 the verge of extinction. Since it is a practical impossibility 

 to induce it to breed in captivity, the species seems almost 

 certain to disappear from our fauna at an early date. 



Although this splendid species is not as yet wholly extinct, 



'■ Grus americana. 



