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THE AMERICAN CRANE 
GRUS AMERICANA 
PLATE V. 
The Hooping Crane, Catesby, Nat. Hist. W. Carolina, I. p. 75, pi. 75 (1731) —■ Edwards, Nat. Hist. Eds. p. 132 pi. 132 (1751) — 
Pennant, Arct. Zool. II. p. 442 (1785) — Lath. Syn. Eds. HI. pt. i. p. 42 (1785). 
La Grue D’Amerique, Briss. Orn. V. p. 382 (1760) — Daubenton, PI. Col. VIH. pi. 88g. 
Ardea AMERICANA, Linn. Syst. Nat. I. p. 234 {1766) — Gmel. Syst. Nat. I. p. 621 (1788) — Wilson, Amer. Orn. VIH. p. 20. pi. 64. 
fig. 3 (1814). 
La Grue Blanche, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. VII. p. 308 (1780). 
Grus CLAMATOR, Bartram, Travels in Florida, p. 292 (1791). 
Grus AMERICANA, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. XIII. p. 557 (1817) — Temm. Man. p. c [100] (1820) — Audub. Bds. of Amer. V, 
pi. 313. p. 188 — Swains. & Richards. Faun. Bor.-Amer., Birds p. 372 (1831) — Nutt. Man. H. p. 34 (1834) — Audub. Orn. Biogr. 
III. p. 202, pi. CCXXVI (1835) — Gray, List Grallm Brit. Mus. p. 74 (1844) id. Gen. B. III. p. 552 (1845) — Reichenb. Handb. 
Fulic. tab. 214, fig. 429, tab. 217, fig. 286 (1852) — Bp. Consp. H. p. 99 (1854) — Cass, in Baird, Cass. & Lawr. B. N. Amer. 
p. 654 (i860) — Blakiston, Ibis, 1863 p. 128 — Schleg. Mus. P.-B. Ralli, p. 4 (1865) — id. Jaarb. Natura Artis Magistra, p. i6r 
pi. II (1866) — Dres.s. Ibis, 1866 p. 30 — Turnb. B. East Pennsylv. p. 61 (1869) — Gra)^, Hand. L. B. III. p, 24, nos. 10085 & 
10086 (1871) — Trippe, Proc. Essex Inst. VI. p. 118 (1871) id. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. XV. p. 240 (Iowa) (1872) — Aiken, t. c. 
p. 209 (Wyoming and Colorado) — Schleg. De Dierentuin te Amsterd. p. 260 (1862) — Coues, Key N. Amer. B. p. 271 (1872) — 
Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Cambr. III. p. 182 (1872) — Coues, Birds N.-West, p. 530 (1874) — Ridgw. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. X. 
p. 387 (1874) — Merrill, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. I. p. 165 (1878) —■ Sennett, Bull. U. S. Geol. & Geogr. Surv. IV. p. 61 (Texas) (1878) — 
Coues, t. c. p. 646 — Mayn. B. E. N. Amer. p. 424 (1879) — Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. III. p. 202 (1880) — Tegetm. & Blyth, 
Monogr. Cranes, p. 54 (1881) — Coues, Check- 1 . N. Amer. B. p. 108 (1882), id. Key N. Amer. B. 2nd ed. p. 666 (1884) — Baird, 
Brew. & Ridgw. Water-B. N. Amer. I. p. 404 (1884) — Drew, Auk, H. p. 18 (1885) — Agersborg, t. c. p. 287 — Anthony, Auk, 
III. p. 164 (1886) — A. O. U. Check. L. p. 139 (1886) —■ Lloyd, Auk, IV. p. 185 (1887) — Ridgw. Man. N. Amer. B. p. 135 (1887) — 
Beckham, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. X. pp. 637, 650 (1887) — Thomps. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. XIII. p. 491 (1890) — Macfarlane, Pr. U. S. 
Nat. Mus. XIV. p. 425 (1891) — Chamberlain’s Nuttall Orn. E. N.-Amer, II. p. 76 (1894). 
Grus struthio, Wagl. Syst. Av. Grus sp. 6 (1827). 
Grus HOYANUS, Dudley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. VII. p. 64 (1854) — Hartl. J. f. O. 1885. p. 336 — Stimpson, Trans. Chicago 
Acad. Sci. 1 . p. 129, pi. 19 (1868). 
Limnogeranus AMERICANUS, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. I. p. XXXVII (1893), id. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII. p. 259 (1894). 
Vernandar names!'. The Whooping Crane (English); de Amerikaansche Kraanvogel (Dutch); la Grue d’Amerique 
(French); der weisse Amerikanische Kranich (German). 
Adult. Pure white, primaries, primary-coverts and bastard wing black; on the nape a more or less apparent 
patch of slaty black feathers. Crown of head, forehead, cheeks and lores devoid of feathers. Forehead thickl}^ covered 
with hairlike black bristles which completely hide the skin. Cheeks and lores also covered with similar bristles, but less 
densely, so that the bare skin which is of a vivid flesh colour is generally, but not always, visible. Crown of head almost 
completely naked, especialty towards the nape and covered with a rough flesh-coloured skin. Bill yellow horn-colour pink 
at the base. Iris pale straw colour. Leggs and feet black. Inner secondaries lengthened, widened and pointed, decom¬ 
posed, and pendant, erected in a patch when the bird shows off in the breeding season. Wing 22P, tail 8', tarsus 113', 
middle toe & claw 4,8', culmen 5| (bird in the Leiden Museum). 
Immature. General colour cinnamon-brown, mixed with white, primaries black. Parts of the head which are naked 
or more or less covered with black bristless in the adult, covered with broAvn feathers. Black bristles of lores, cheeks 
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