THE WHOOPING CRANE. 
188 
closed wings, and outstretched feet they alight, running along for a few 
steps to break the force of their descent. 
Reader, see the majestic bird shake its feathers, and again arrange them 
in order. Proud of its beautiful form, and prouder still of its power of 
flight, it stalks over the withering grasses with all the majesty of a gallant 
chief. With long and measured steps he moves along, his head erect, his 
eye glistening with delight. His great journey is accomplished, and being 
well acquainted with a country which has often been visited by him, he at 
once commences his winter avocations. 
The Whooping Crane reaches the Western Country about the middle of 
October, or the beginning of November, in flocks of twenty or thirty indi- 
viduals, sometimes of twice or thrice that number ; the young by themselves, 
but closely followed by their parents. They spread from Illinois over 
Kentucky, and all the intermediate States, until they reach the Carolinas on 
the southern coast, the Floridas, Louisiana, and the countries bordering on 
Mexico, in all of which they spend the winter, seldom returning northward 
until about the middle of April, or towards the beginning of May. They 
are seen on the edges of large ponds supplied with rank herbage, on fields 
or savannahs, nowin swampy woods, and again on extensive marshes. The 
interior of t' country, and the neighbourhood of the sea shores, suit them 
equally well, so long as the temperature is sufficiently high. In the Middle 
States, it is very seldom indeed that they are seen ; and to the eastward of 
these countries they are unknown ; for all their migrations are performed far 
inland, and thus they leave and return to the northern retreats where, it is 
said, they breed and spend the summer. While migrating they appear to 
travel both by night and by day, and I have frequently heard them at the 
former, and seen them at the latter time, as they were proceeding toward 
their destination. Whether the weather be calm or tempestuous, it makes 
no difference to them, their power of flight being such as to render them 
regardless of the winds. Nay, I have observed them urging their way during 
very heavy gales, shifting from high to low in the air with remarkable dex- 
terity. The members of a flock sometimes arrange themselves in the form 
of an acute-angled triangle ; sometimes they move in a long line ; again 
they mingle together without order, or form an extended front ; but in 
whatever manner they advance, each bird sounds his loud note in succes- 
sion, and on all occasions of alarm these birds manifest the same habit. 
I had, in 1810, the gratification of taking Alexander Wilson to some 
ponds within a few miles of Louisville, and of shewing him many birds of 
this species, of which he had not previously seen any other than stuffed 
specimens. I told him that the white birds were the adults, and that the 
grey ones were the young. Wilson, in his article on the Whooping Crane. 
Vol. V. 26 
