20 
HOOPING CRANE. 
GSUS JlMERICANJl. 
[Plate LXIV— Fig. 3, Male.'] 
Arct. Zool. No, 339. — Catesby, I, 75. — Lath, III, p. 42. — Grus Americana^ Briss. V, 
p, 382. La Grue d'AmSrigue^ PI. Enl. 889. — Ardea Americanay Ind. Orn, p. 675, No. 6; 
A. gigantea? Id. p, 674, No. 3. — Gmel, Syst, I, p. 621, No, 5; Id. 622, No, 11? — 
Peale’s Museum, No. 3704. 
THIS is the tallest and most stately species of all the fea- 
thered tribes of the United States; the watchful inhabitant of ex- 
tensive salt marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses, in the 
neighborhood 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 periodi- 
cal journies they pass at such a prodigious height in the air as to 
be seldom observed. They have, however, their resting stages on 
the route to and from their usual breeding places, the regions of 
the north. A few sometimes make their appearance 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 flight, a little above the surface ; and have at such 
times a very foi-midable appearance. At limes 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 the peculiarity of which they derive their name. When 
