GRALLATORES. 



295 



We introduce the following observations on this bird by Mr. Peale : 



" This species was found in great numbers in the latter part of July 

 on the prairies of Oregon, and was seen almost daily in our journey 

 to California. It prefers moist open grounds, and roosts generally on 

 small sand-bars in the rivers where convenient, but never, that we 

 learned, on trees. We do not agree with Wilson or with Audubon, in 

 believing the ' Sandhill' and ' Whooping Cranes' to be the young and 

 old of the same species. If it were so, we would expect to find at 

 least one old bird in many thousand individuals seen by our parties 

 in Oregon and California, but we did not observe a single specimen of 

 the Whooping Crane {Gms americwia), although the bird was known 

 to several persons of whom we made inquiry, as a rare visitor on that 

 side of the Rocky Mountains. Sandhill Cranes or Storks [Grus cana- 

 densis), were familiar to every person, being known to breed in the 

 country, and are very abundant. Indians, fur traders, trappers, and 

 persons living in the forests and prairies, are prone to be observers of 

 natural objects, and are, generally speaking, correct in their know- 

 ledge of the larger animals of the country where they range. They 

 consider these two birds as distinct species, and we have no reason to 

 disagree with them. 



" Grus americana is the larger of the two species, and when young, 

 we believe, is of a dusky ferruginous color, having seen it in both 

 stages of plumage in the salt marshes of Florida, and on the prairies 

 of the Missouri, but it is not common near the coast of the Pacific 

 Ocean, while on the contrary, the Grus canadensis abounds there." 



Dr. Pickering also gives some interesting notes on this bird. The 

 following occurs in his journal kept in Oregon : 



The Sandhill Crane is quite common here, and its nest has been 

 found near our camp. The egg appears to me to be nearly double the 

 size of that of a goose, and is of a dirty white or rather light brown 

 color, with reddish-brown spots, quite irregular in figure, and thinly 

 scattered over its surface. 



" The note of this bird, especially during flight, is loud and very 

 distinct, sounding something like the sjdlables huch-er-r-rup. It walks 

 with great facility, and runs swiftly, though in observing its flight, I 

 was constantly impressed with an apparent awkwardness of position, 

 much more than in the Herons. Its flight has, however, a more 

 vigorous character and is evidently capable of long continuance. This 

 Crane alights habitually on dry plains and on the hills, in which re- 



