CHAPTER XXV 
THE ORDER OF CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS 
PAL UD1C0LAE 
/ 
The name of this Order, Pal-u-dic o-lae, 
means “marsh-dweller,” and the presence in it 
of the cranes is enough to make it notable. It 
must be admitted, however, that from the 
stately and commanding crane down to the 
humble coot, the scared gallinule, and the di- 
minutive rail, is a long step downward. But it 
is inevitable that the efforts of science to classify 
the birds of the world in as few Orders as pos- 
sible, should bring together many widely di- 
vergent forms. To have a greater number of 
Orders would be still more confusing to the 
general student than the present number. 
In the order of Marsh-Dwellers there are 
only two Families which are entitled to notice 
here. These are the Cranes, and the Rails, 
Gallinules and Coots. 
THE CRANE FAMILY. 
Gruidae. 
The Cranes of the world form a group of about 
eighteen species, which, in stateliness, beauty 
and oddity of habit, are second only to the 
ostriches and their allies. Every zoological 
garden which possesses a good collection of 
cranes has good reason to be proud of it. The 
Crowned Cranes of Africa are the most beautiful 
species of all, the Paradise Crane is the oddest 
in appearance, the little Demoiselle Crane, of 
the Nile region, has the most amiable disposition. 
The big, red-headed Saras Crane of India is the 
most quarrelsome, and the stately Whooping 
Crane of North America is the species which 
comes nearest to being pure white. 
Through some mischievous and unfortunate 
circumstance, the great majority of the people 
who live in the eastern United States have be- 
come almost fixed in the habit of calling the 
great blue heron the “blue crane.” The former 
is common enough along watercourses and tidal 
rivers, but it is probable that not more than one 
person out of every ten thousand has ever seen 
in America a living wild crane. As applied to 
wild-birds, the word “crane” should be used 
most sparingly. Along the Atlantic coast, the 
only locality in which it might correctly be used 
afield is on the interior savannas of Florida. 
The Whooping Crane 1 is now one of the 
rarest of all living North American birds. 
Three years of diligent quest for living speci- 
mens have produced but one bird. There were 
in captivity on January 1, 1003, exactly six 
specimens, four of which were in the United 
States. Inasmuch as this bird is of no value 
save to zoological gardens, it must be believed 
that it has been wantonly shot, down to the 
verge of extinction. Since it is a practical im- 
possibility to induce it to breed in captivity, 
the species seems almost certain to disappear 
from our fauna at an early date. 
As seen with its wings closed, the visible 
plumage of this grand bird is all snowy white. 
When the wings are spread, however, it is found 
that the largest feathers, called the primaries, 
are jet black. The upper tail coverts form a 
plume that arches upward over the tail, and 
gives the bird a very jaunty air. The top of 
the head is bare of feathers, and the rough skin 
has a dull-red glow. The eye is big and keen, 
and the bill is long, strong and rather blunt on 
the end, for digging angle-worms out, of the 
ground, not for spearing fish. 
The strength of the beak and neck of the 
Whooping Crane in the New York Zoological 
Park is truly remarkable. The bird roams at 
will in a grassy meadow of about two acres in 
extent. Soon after it attained full growth, it 
was noticed that after every rain, it would 
vigorously attack the grass. With mandibles 
1 Grus americana. 
