HOOPING CRANE. 
21 
wounded they attack the gunner, or his dog, with great resolu- 
tion ; and have been known to drive their sharp and formidable 
bill, at one stroke, through a man’s hand. 
During winter they are frequently seen in the low grounds 
and rice plantations of the southern states, in search of grain and 
insects. On the tenth of February I met with several near the 
Waccamau river, in South Carolina; I also saw a flock at the 
ponds near Louisville, Kentucky, on the twentieth of March. They 
are extremely shy and vigilant, so that it is with the greatest dif- 
ficulty they can be shot. They sometimes rise in the air spirally 
to a great height, the mingled noise of their screaming, even when 
they are almost beyond the I’each of sight, resembling that of a 
pack of hounds in full cry. On these occasions they fly around in 
large circles, as if reconnoitring the country to a vast extent for a 
fresh quarter to feed in. Their flesh is said to be well tasted, no 
ways savouring of fish. They swallow mice, moles, rats, &c. with 
great avidity. They build their nests on the ground, in tussocks 
of long grass, amidst solitary swamps, raise it to more than a foot 
in height, and lay two pale blue eggs, spotted with brown. 1 hese 
are much larger, and of a more lengthened form, than those of the 
common hen. 
The Cranes are distinguished from the Herons by the com- 
parative baldness of their heads, the broad flag of plumage project- 
ing over the tail, and in general by their superior size. They also 
diflfer in their internal organization, particularly in the conforma- 
tion of the windpipe, which enters the breast bone in a cavity fitted 
to receive it, and after several turns goes out again at the same place, 
and thence descends to the lungs. Unlike the Herons, they have not 
the inner side of the middle claw pectinated ; and, in this species 
at least, the hind toe is short, scarcely reaching the ground. 
The vast marshy flats of Siberia are inhabited by a Crane very 
much resembling the present, with the exception of the bill and 
Y 
VOL. VIII. 
