WADING BIRDS 
CRANES, RAILS, Etc. Order VIII. PALUDICOL^ 
CRANES. Family GRUIDAE 
Cranes are large, long-legged, long-necked birds, somewhat resembling 
Herons. Their structure and mode of living partakes more of the nature of 
the Rails, however. They are found upon the prairies, where besides shell 
fish from the ponds, they feed largely upon grasshoppers, worms, etc. 
204 . Whooping Crane. Grus americana. 
Range. — Interior of North America, breeding 
from about the latitude of Iowa northward to the 
Arctic regions ; winters in the Gulf states and 
southward. 
The Whooping Crane is the largest of the fam- 
ily in America, measuring 50 inches or more in 
length. The plumage of the adults is pure white, 
with black primaries. The bare parts of the head 
and face are carmine. It is a very locally dis- 
tributed species, in some sections being practi- 
cally unknown, while in a neighboring locality it 
may be rated as common. They are very shy 
birds and are not easily obtained. They nest 
either upon the solid earth or in marshy places 
over the water. In either case the nest is a very 
bulky mass of grass and weeds from two to three 
feet in diameter and raised perhaps a foot above 
the ground. They lay two eggs of a brownish 
buff color, irregularly blotched with brown, and 
with fainter marking of gray. Size 3.75 x 2.50. 
Data. — Torkton, northern Assiniboia, northwest 
Canada. Nest a mass of marsh hay, three feet in 
diameter, on the prairie. The birds seen, but very 
wary. Collector, Cowbry Brown. 
205 . Little Brown Crane. 
Grus canadensis. 
Range. — North America in the interior, breed- 
ing from Hudson Bay and southern Alaska north 
to the Arctic coast; south in winter to Mexico. 
This uniform gray colored Crane differs from 
the next species only in size, being about three 
feet in length, while the Sandhill averages three 
and one-half feet. The eggs cannot be distin- 
guished with any certainty. 
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