116 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



or five nests in each tree. They all go wandering when the young 

 are able to fly, but return again to their breeding place with the 

 return of the season. 



Order PALUDICOLiE. Cranes, Eails, etc. 



Suborder GRUES. Cranes. 



Family GRUID^. Cranes. 



Genus GRUS Pallas. 



GRUS AMERICANA (Linn.). 



78. Whooping Crane. (:204) 



Adult: — With the bare part of head extending in a point on the occiput 

 above, on each side below the eyes, and very hairy; bill, very stout, convex, 

 ascending, that part of the under mandible as deep as the upper opposite to it. 

 Adult plumage, pure white, with black primaries, primary coverts and alula ; 

 bill, dusky greenish ; legs, black ; head, carmine, the hair-like feathers blackish. 

 Young: — With the head feathered; general plumage, gray (?), varied with 

 brown. Length, about 50 inches ; wing, 24 ; tail, 9 ; tarsus, 12 ; middle toe, 5 ; 

 bill, 6. 



Hab. — Interior of North America, from the fur countries to Florida, Texas 

 and Mexico, and from Ohio to Colorado. Formerly on the Atlantic coast, at 

 least casually, to New England. ' 



Nest, on the ground among weeds or rank grass, built of fine, tough grass, 

 firmly put together and neatly formed. 



Eggs, two or three, light brownish-drab, marked with large, irregular spots 

 of dull chocolate-brown and obscure shell-markings. 



Mr. John Ewart, of the village of Yarker, in the county of 

 Addington, has a mounted specimen of the Whooping Crane in his 

 collection, which is the only record I have of the species in Ontario. 

 In the fall of 1871, it was observed frequenting the borders of a 

 small, shallow lake in the township of Camden, and for a week or 

 ten days the local gunners were on its track. It was very shy, 

 but finally fell before the gun of Wesley Potter on the 27th of 

 September. 



Wilson speaks of this species as an occasional visitor in the 

 marshes at Cape May during its migration, but now it is hardly 

 known in the East, its line of migration being along the Mississippi 

 valley. It breeds in Manitoba, and is said to be found also in the 

 fur countries. 



