WHOOPING CRANE. DOT 
as that used in the foundation. Four eggs, of a very faint greenish-blue tint and rounded 
oval in shape, constitute a full set; those taken were incomplete, containing from two 
to three eggs, which were fresh and probably the second laying ef the season. They 
evidently build an entire new nest for the seccud brocd, as the grass was still fresh 
and green in those observed.” 
ORDER ALECTORIDA. CRANES, RAILS, ETC. 
FAMILY GRUIDA. CRANES. 
Of great stature, with extremely long neck and legs. Part or all of the head bare. 
Toes much shorter than the tarsi; with basal webbing, bat without lobation ; hallux 
very short, highly elavated. Billeqnalling or exceeding the head, compressed, perfectly 
straight, contracted about the middle, with enlarged acute terminal portion 3; nasal fosse 
wide and deep, with large perforate nostrils. 
GENUS GRUS. Linneeus. 
With the characters of the family. 
GRUS AMERICANA (L.) Temm. 
White Crane; Whooping Crane. 
Grus americana, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 165. 
Grus americanus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep, for 1860, 368 377; Reprint, 1861, 9, 19; 
Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 573; Reprint, 1075, 13.—LANGDON, 
Cat. Birds of Cin, 1877, 15; Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1878, 117; Reprint, 5; Re- 
vised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1079, 184; Reprint, 18. 
Ardea americana, LINNAZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1776, 234. 
Grus americana, TEMMINCK, Analyse. 
Adult with the bare part of head extending in a point on the occiput above, on each 
side below the eyes, and very hairy. Bill very stout, convex, ascending, that part of 
the under mandible as deep as the upper opposite it. Adult plumage pure white with 
black primaries, primary coverts and alula; bill dusky-greenish; legs black; head car- 
mine, the hair-like feathers blackish. Young with the head feathered; general plum- 
age gray (?) varied with brown. Length, about 50 inches; wing, 24; tail, 9; tarsus, 12; 
middle toe, 5; bill, 6. 
Habitat, temperate North America. Up the Mississippi Valley, spreading through 
the fur countries. Texas to Fiorida, and occasionally upon the coast to the Middle 
States. 
Rare. Spring and fall migrant. Dr. Kirtland, who, following Audubon, 
did not distinguish between this and the following species, says: 
““The Sandhill or Whooping Crane, the adjutant bird, occasionally visits Ohio. Dr 
Ward imforms me that two were killed near Roscoe, in Coshocton county in 1837, and 
the Hon. Calvin Pease also informs me that he once saw a flock of them in Fairfield 
county.” 
Mr. Langdon includes it in his Revised List, two or three specimens 
