548 WHOOPING CRANE. 
WHOOPING CRANE, — ARDEA AMERICANA. — Fig. 258, — Mate. 
& 
Arct. Zool. No. 339.— Catesby, i.'15. — Lath. iii. p. 42. — La Grue d’Amerique, 
Pl. enl. 889. — Peale’s Museum, No. 3704, 
GRUS AMERICANA. — TemMincg.* 
seal 
Grus Americana, Bonap. Synop. p. 302.— North. Zool. ii. p. 372. 
Turs is the tallest and most stately species of all the feathered tribes 
of the Unitea States ; the watchful inhabitant of extensive salt marshes, 
desolate swamps, and open morasses in the neighborhood of the sea. 
Its migrations are regular, and of the most extensivé kind, reaching 
from the shores and inundated tracts of South America to the arctic 
circle. In these immense periodical journeys, they pass at such a 
prodigious height in the air as to be seldom observed. They have, 
however, their resting-stages on the route to and from their usual 
breeding places, the regions of the north. A few sometimes make 
their appearance in the marshes of Cape May, in December, particu- 
larly on and near Egg Island, where they are known by the name. of 
* This Crane has also suffered under the too general confusion of names, so 
that it becomes somewhat difficult to determine with precision that which should by 
priority be allotted to it. It is an extra European species, and-seems to be the 
Asiatic bird generally known under the name of G. gigantea, Pall. Temminck, 
however, says that Gmelin changed this name from the original one of G. leucoge- 
rano, Pall., and has figured and described it as such in the Planches Colorées. 
It appears to extend over Asia to China, and specimens have been brought from 
Japan. Are they all one species ? 
America will also possess another majestic Crane, Grus Canadensis, Temm., 
inhabiting the northern parts, but not commonly found in the Middle States ; it is 
met with in summer in all parts of the fur countries, to the shores of the Arctic Sea. 
The birds of this genus were formerly arranged among the Herons, to which they 
bear a certain alliance, but were, by Pallas, with propriety separated, and form a 
very natural division in a great class. They are at once distinguished from Ardea 
by the bald head, and the broad, waving, and pendulous form of the greater coverts. 
Some extend over every part of the world, but the group is, notwithstanding, lim- 
ited to only a few species. They are majestic in appearance, and possess a strong 
and powerful flight, performing very long migrations, preparatory to which the 
assemble, and, as it were, exercise themselves before starting. ‘They are social, 
and feed and migrate in troops. Major Long, speaking of the migrations of the 
second American species, G. Canadensis, says, “They afford one. of the most 
beautr ul instances of animal motion we can any where meet with. They fly ata 
great eight, and wheeling in circles, appear to rest without effort on the surface of 
an aerial current, by whose eddies they are borne about in an endless series of rey- 
olutions 5 each individual describes a large circle in the air. independently of his 
associates, and uttering loud, distinct, and repeated cries. They continue thus to 
wing their flight upwards, gradually receding from the earth, until they become 
mere specks upon the sight, and finally altogether disappear, leaving only the dis- 
cordant music of their concert to fall faintly on the ear, exploring 
‘ Heavens not its own, and worlds unknown before.?”?” 
The Grus Canadensis, or Sand-Hill Crane, will be figured and described by the 
Prince of Musignano in the remaining volumes of his Continuation, which we hope 
erelong to receive. — Ep. ‘ 
