Whooping Crane S1 
Whooping Crane. Grus americana. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 204—Colorado Records—Aiken 72, p. 209; 
Morrison 89, p. 166; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 62; Felger 09, p. 286. 
Description. Adult—-Plumage pure white, except the primaries, 
their coverts, and the alula, which are black ; iris yellow; bill dusky- 
greenish ; bare skin of head which runs back to a point on the occiput, 
and also on to the cheeks below the eyes, carmine ; legs black. Length 
about 50; wing 24; tail9-0 culmen 6 ; tarsus 12. 
A young bird has the head feathered and the plumage varied with 
rusty-brown. 
Distribution.—Breeding chiefly from Iowa to Saskatchewan ; migrat- 
ing south along the Mississippi Valley to Central Mexico. 
In Colorado the Whooping Crane was formerly, perhaps, more 
common. Aiken, thirty-five years ago, noted it as ‘‘ occasional on 
migration,’ but it now seems to be very rare, and I only find two 
definite records of its occurrence. W.G. Smith observed it at 
Loveland, April 8th to 16th. There is a moulted specimen in the 
Museum at Fort Collins, but it is not definitely stated by Cooke 
where it was obtained. 
Little Brown Crane. Grus canadensis. 
A.0.U. Checklist no 205—Colorado Records—Thorne 87, p. 264; 
Cooke 94, p. 183; 97, pp. 62, 198. 
Description.—_Resembling in every respect the Sandhill Crane 
(G. mexicana) but considerably smaller. Length 36; wing 19-5; tail 
7-75 ; culmen 4-40; tarsus 8-5. 
Distribution.— Breeding far north, from Alaska to Hudson Bay, 
migrating south through Colorado to Texas and Mexico. 
Most of the Colorado references to this species really belong to the 
Sandhill, as the two birds have often been confused. The Little Brown 
Crane, however, passes through Colorado on migration. It was taken 
by Captain Thorne at Fort Lyon ; there is a mounted example in the 
Museum at Fort Collins and also one in the collection of Mr. A. T. Allen, 
taken near Denver (Cooke), while Aiken tells me he had two brought 
to him, March 27th and 28th, 1900, which had been killed close to 
Colorado Springs. In the State Historical Society’s collection at Denver 
there is a male, killed at Hooper, Costilla co., March 27th, 1906, by 
J. L. Wolfe, and a female from Magnolia, Arapahoe co., about fifteen 
miles east of Denver, taken by H. Todenwarth. The stomach of the 
former example contained ‘‘ about half-a-pint of wheat.” 
C. S. Thompson informs me of the capture of an example at Edwards, 
Eagle co., April Ist, 1903. This is apparently the first record for the 
western slope. 
