YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
203. Nyctanassa violacea. 23 in.
Like the last species, the head of this one is adorned with three long, rounded, white plumes; in life these plumes are rarely separated, but are nested together so that there appears to be but one. As dusk approaches, these birds sally out from their roosting or nesting places, and with slow, measured flaps, wing their way to their feeding grounds, which are usually fresh water bogs, teeming with animal and insect life. After dark the “quark” of Night Herons is frequently heard as the birds pass overhead, and they can very easily be decoyed by a crude imitation of their call. This species is principally confined to the South where it is found in heronries of its own kind, or in company with others.
Notes.—Like those of the [Black-crowned Night Heron].
Nest.—A platform of sticks in trees, in swamps. 3 or 4 pale bluish-green eggs (2.00 × 1.40); May.
Range.—Breeds north to South Carolina and Southern Illinois; later may stray farther north.
CRANES, RAILS, ETC.—Order Paludicolæ
CRANES—Family Gruidæ
WHOOPING CRANE
204. Grus americana. 50 in.
Plumage white, with black primaries; the inner wing feathers greatly lengthened, making a flowing train. Head of adult, largely bare, carmine colored, and with a few black hair-like feathers; eye yellow; bill and legs black. Young birds are whitish, mixed with gray. These great birds are not uncommon on the prairies of interior America, where they frequent the edges of marshes and sloughs. They are very wary and their great height enables them to see anyone a long way off, above the marsh grass. They were formerly found on the South Atlantic coast, but are now extremely rare there.
Notes.—A loud whooping scream.
Nest.—On the ground, usually in marshes; it is a bulky mass of grass and weeds, with the hollowed top a foot or more above ground. The two eggs that they lay are brownish-buff, spotted with brown (3.75 × 2.50); May, June.
