Nest.—Is built of sticks, with no lining, and placed in the higher limbs of the trees, not unusual to find a dozen or more in each tree. Eggs are pale greenish color (2.00 × 1.40).
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON.
203. Nyctanassa violacea. 23 inches.
The head of this species is adorned with three long, rounded white plumes; in life these plumes are rarely separated, but are nested together so that they appear to be as one. On the back they also have long lanceolate gray plumes; crown and a comet shaped patch under the eye of a yellowish white. As dusk approaches, these birds start out from their roosting places, and, with slow, measured flaps, wing their way to their feeding grounds, which are fresh water bogs, their food consisting of insects, frogs, snails and small fish.
WHOOPING CRANE—Family Gruidæ.
204. Grus americana. 50 inches.
This is the largest of the family in America. The plumage of the adults is pure white, with black primaries; the bare parts of the head and face are carmine; eyes yellow; bill and feet black. These great birds are not uncommon on the prairies of the interior of America.
Nest.—Either upon the solid earth or marshy places on the bogs, the nest being very bulky, a mass of grass and weeds two or three feet in diameter. They lay two eggs of a brownish buff color blotched with shades of brown and gray (3.75 × 2.50).
Range.—Interior of North America, breeding to the Arctic regions and wintering to the Gulf states and southward.