WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 215 



heads and necks, somo aro all white except the 

 ends of the wings, which in them are black. 

 If any naturalist of New York, Boston, or Phila- 

 delphia would like to have a specimen of each of 

 these geese, 1 can send them. 



There are two kinds of cranes plentiful in Illi- 

 nois in the spring and fall of the year. The most 

 abundant is the sand-hill crane, a well-known 

 bird. With a body as large as that of a goose, 

 he stands upon long legs, so that he is four and 

 a half or five feet high. They winter in the south, 

 and go to high northern latitudes to breed. A 

 few nests are made in the Winnebago Swamp, but 

 only a few. They do not resort about water much, 

 although they choose their roosting-place near it. 

 In the spring they are first seen very high in the 

 air, cjrcling round and uttering loud cries, so high up 

 as hardly to be perceived. In my opinion, they 

 fly higher than any other bird, not even excepting 

 eagles and vultures. When the cry of the crane 

 is heard coming out of the sky, as it were, people 

 know that winter is quite over, and that warm 

 weather is going to come in shortly. When seen 

 sitting on the .prairie in flocks, they look like 

 sheep at a distance. 



They arrive with us according to the season, 



