22 
HOOPING CRANE. 
legs being red; like those of the present, the yearling birds are 
said also to be tawny. 
The Hooping Crane is four feet six inches in length, from 
the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and when standing erect 
measures nearly five feet ; the bill is six inches long, and an inch 
and a half in thickness, straight, extremely sharp, and of a yellow- 
ish brown color ; the irides are yellow ; the forehead, whole crown, 
and cheeks, are covered with a warty skin thinly interspersed with 
black hairs ; these become more thickly set towards the base of 
the bill; the hind head is of an ash color; the rest of the plumage 
pure white, the primaries excepted, which are black; from the root 
of each wing rise numerous large flowing feathers projecting over 
the tail and tips of the wings ; the uppermost of these are broad, 
drooping, and pointed at the extremities, some of them are also 
loosely webbed, their silky fibres curling inwards like those of the 
Ostrich. They seem to occupy the place of the tertials. The legs 
and naked part of the thighs are black, very thick and strong ; the 
hind toe seems rarely or never to reach the hard ground, though 
it may probably assist in preventing the bird from sinking too 
deep in the mire. 
In the first edition of this work our author expresses the con- 
jecture, that the Brown and Ash-colored Crane of Edwards is no- 
thing more than the young of the Hooping Crane. This is an 
error into which he was led in consequence of never having seen a 
specimen of the bird in question, which Linnaeus names Jlrdea 
Canadensis, and Brisson Grits Freti Hudsonis, Peale’s Museum at 
present contains a fine specimen of the Grus Canadensis, which 
was brought by the naturalists attached to Major Long’s exploring 
party, who ascended the Missouri in the year 1820. Bartram calls 
this Crane the Grus pratensis. It is known to travellers by the 
name of Sandhill Crane. 
