44 



HERON. 



11 —HOOPING CRANE. 



Ardea Americana, Ind.Orn.W. 675. Lin. i, 234. Gm.Lin.i. 621. 

 Ardea Americana, or Whooping Crane, Amer. Orn. viii. pi, 64. f. 3. 

 Grus Americana, Bris. v. 382. Id. Svo. ii. 309. 

 Grue blanche d'Amerique, Bvf. vii. 308. PL enl. 889. 

 Grus damator, Great Whooping Crane, Bartram, Tr. p. 290. 

 Hooping Crane, Gen. Syn, v. 42. Arct. Zool. No. 339. Id. Sup. p. 66. Cates. 

 Car. i. pi. 75. Edw. pi. 132. Phil. Trans, lxv. 409. 



LENGTH four feet and a half, and to the end of the claws five 

 feet seven inches. Bill six inches long, toothed at the edges, near 

 the end, and of a yellow brown colour; the top of the head, and 

 under the eyes, covered with a red skin, beset with black hairs, 

 which are so thick next the bill, as to appear nearly black, and end 

 in a point below the ears; behind the crown, on the nape, a trian- 

 gular black mark ; the general colour of the plumage is white, 

 except the bend of the wing, which is pale rose-colour ; the nine 

 first quills are black; the tenth black and white; the rest white; 

 legs and bare part of the thighs black; on the rump the feathers 

 are tufted, and hang curving downwards, as in the Common Crane. 



Inhabits various parts of America, breeding in the northern, and 

 retiring southward, in autumn ; arrives at Hudson's Bay in May ; 

 chiefly met with in unfrequented places, in the neighbourhood of 

 lakes, where it breeds : the nest made on the ground, composed of 

 grass and feathers; the female lays two white eggs, like those of 

 a Swan, and sits twenty days. This bird has a loud, long note, 

 which may be heard at a great distance ; the food, chiefly worms 

 and insects, which it searches for at the bottoms of ponds. The 

 natives call it Wapaw-uchechauk :* how far south it proceeds is not 

 certain, but it appears in spring, about the mouths of Savanna, 

 Aratamaha, and other rivers of St. Augustine, going north to breed, 



and returning in autumn. 



* Mr. Hutchins. 



