108 
GRUIFORMES 
feathers {See Figures 240 and 242), and by the lack of pectinations on middle claw. The 
bill is shorter proportionately than that of the heron, but more heavily built, in both 
material and shape, there is no septum within the bill between the nostrils, and the 
hind toe is elevated above the others (Figure 238). 
Field Marks. Cranes fly with outstretched neck instead of with head drawn into 
the shoulders as do the herons (Figure 239, compare with 100), and contrary to the 
habits of herons they often feed in flocks on upland fields. 
So far as Canada is concerned, this family may he called the ‘‘Large 
Marsh Birds,” a term, however, that has no other warrant than that of 
convenience. In this suborder, as in some of the swans, the windpipe 
enters a hollow in the keel of the sternum and has similar complicated 
convolutions (See Figures 241 and 243). 
204. Whooping Crane, white crane, la grue blanche. Grus americana 
L, 50. A very large, white, heron-like bird with black primaries and bare, dull red lores, 
crown, and face streak (Figure 240). Juveniles have not as much colour on the bare parts 
of the head and face but are more or less completely overwashed with rusty, strongly 
resembling the iron that stains the white parts of adults and many water birds. 
Distinctions. There is no other white, crane-like bird of equal size with which it 
can be confused. 
Field Marks. A great white crane with a red face, standing about 4 feet in height. 
In flight, the outstretched neck and legs are distinctive for a crane, and the great size and 
the white plumage with black wing tips, for this species. 
Figure 240 
Whooping Crane; scale,*. 
Nesting. On the ground, in the midst of wide marshes. 
Distribution. North America, in Canada west of the Great Lakes to the foothills, 
breeding throughout its regular range. Now very rare and verging on extinction. 
It is a regrettable fact that increased wariness and native vigilance 
never quite compensate for the handicap of large size in a wild bird or 
animal in its struggle for existence with civilization. The Whooping 
Crane is amongst the wariest of birds. It frequents the bare prairies and 
open sloughs where its great height from the ground gives it every opportunity 
to note approaching danger ; yet from being a fairly common bird on the 
prairies it has been practically exterminated within the last thirty-five years. 
Today in our Prairie Provinces we know of but a few scattered breeding 
pairs. It is a serious question whether the species can be preserved to 
posterity. When a species becomes too low in numbers it succumbs to the 
weakened condition induced by inbreeding in spite of every protection 
that can be offered. Whether this is the case with the Whooping Crane 
remains to be seen. At present it is listed among the birds that are pro- 
tected at all times, and it is to be hoped that this protection has not come 
too late. The last chance of preserving this, probably the most spectacular 
