SPECIES 10. ARDEA AMERICANA. 
WHOOPING CRANE. 
[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 3.] 
Jrct. Zool. No. 339. — Catesby, i, 75 . — Lath, hi, p. 42. — La 
Grue d'Jlmerique, Bmss. v, p. 382. — pl. Enl. 889.— Peale’s 
Museum, No. 3704.t 
This is the tallest and most stately species of all the feathered 
tribes of the United States; the watchful inhabitant of extensive 
salt marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses, in the neigh- 
«bourhood of the sea. Its migrations are regular, and of the 
most extensive kind, reaching from the shores and inundated 
tracts of South America to the arctic circle. In these immense 
periodical journeys they pass at such a prodigious height in the 
air as to be seldom observed. They have, however, their rest- 
ing stages on the route to and from their usual breeding places, 
the regions of the north. A few sometimes make their appear- 
ance in the marshes of Cape May, in December, particularly 
on and near Egg island, where they are known by the name of 
Storks. The younger birds are easily distinguished from the 
rest by the brownness of their plumage. Some linger in these 
marshes the whole winter, setting out north about the time the 
ice breaks up. During their stay they wander along the marsh 
and muddy flats of the seashore in search of marine worms, 
sailing occasionally from place to place, with a low and heavy 
jiight, a little above the surface; and have at such times a very 
formidable appearance. At times they utter a loud clear and 
piercing cry, which may be heard at the distance of two miles. 
They have also various modulations of this singular note, from 
* This bird belongs to the genus Grus of Pallas, 
t Grns JJmericana, Ord’s ed. vol. viii, p. 20. 
