WHOOPING CRANE. 21 



tion; and have been known to drive their sharp and formidable 

 bill, at one stroke, through a man^s hand. 



During winter they are frequently seen in the low grounds 

 and rice plantations of the southern states, in search of grain and 

 insects. On the tenth of February I met with several near the 

 Waccamau river, in South Carolina; I also saw a flock at the 

 ponds near Louisville, Kentucky, on the twentieth of March. They 

 are extremely shy and vigilant, so that it is with the greatest dif- 

 ficulty they can be shot. They sometimes rise in the air spirally 

 to a great height, the mingled noise of their screaming, even when 

 they are almost beyond the reach of sight, resembling that of a 

 pack of hounds in full cry. On these occasions they fly around in 

 large circles, as if reconnoitring the country to a vast extent for a 

 fresh quarter to feed in. Their flesh is said to be well tasted, no 

 ways savouring of fish. They swallow mice, moles, rats, &c. with 

 great avidity. They build their nests on the ground, in tussocks 

 of long grass, amidst solitary swamps, raise it to more than a foot 

 in height, and lay two pale blue eggs, spotted with brown. These 

 are much larger, and of a more lengthened form, than those of the 

 common hen. 



The Cranes are distinguished from the other families of their 

 genus by the comparative baldness of their heads, the broad flag 

 of plumage projecting over the tail, and in general by their supe- 

 rior size. They also differ in their internal organization from all 

 the rest of the Heron tribe, particularly in the conformation of the 

 windpipe, which enters the breast bone in a cavity fitted to receive 

 it, and after several turns goes out again at the same place, and 

 thence descends to the lungs. Unlike the Herons, they have not 

 the inner side of the middle claw pectinated, and, in this species 

 at least, the hind toe is short, scarcely reaching the ground. 



The vast marshy flats of Siberia are inhabited by a Crane very 

 much resembling the present, with the exception of the bill and 



VOL. VIII. F 



