252 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 
nests are built on open plains in the West, often six 
thousand feet above the sea. Many winter in Cuba, The 
whooping crane (G. Americana) attains a length of four 
and a half feet, and is found in the interior from the Gulf 
of Mexico to Minnesota. The demoiselle crane (Balearica) 
is a beautiful species from southern Europe and Africa. 
The head bears a curious, straw-colored brush. The 
South American trumpeter (Cariama) is an interesting 
form found on the elevated plateaus. Allied are the cry- 
ing birds (Avamide), rails, gallinules, coots, etc. 
The Gallinula gigantea in 1694 lived in the Mascarene 
Islands, but is now extinct. It was a rail six feet in height. 
Another allied form was the /Vofornis, supposed to be ex- 
tinct, and known up to 1850 only by its fossil bones; a 
specimen was discovered alive in New Zealand in 1860. 
It is now probably extinct. 
VALUE.—AIl are valued as game, and the rich feathers of the gal- 
linules for various ornamental purposes. 
Avocets (Recurvirostride)- (Fig. 288, 2) are distin- 
guished by their long legs and bills, the latter turning up- 
ward. The American avocet (&. Americana) ranges the 
entire area of North America. Their general length is 
eighteen inches, the wings eight inches. The head and 
neck are colored a reddish brown, the wing-coverts and 
back black, the lower portion white. The nest is formed 
of dry grasses and weeds in the high grass near the water, 
and generally contains four eggs. 
Phalaropes (Pialaropodide) have toes with narrow 
lobes or expansions as we have seen in the grebes and 
coots, enabling them to swim and walk over the sea-weed 
far out to sea. Only three species are- known, and all 
found in America. 
In the Snipes (Scolopacida) the bill is elongated and 
soft-skinned. The sexes are generally alike. The Amer- 
ica woodcock (P&ilohela minor) is found in eastern United 
