beneath the broad feathers of the shoulder. In returning towards the
feeding grounds, they all emit their usual note, but in a very low undertone,
leaving their roost at an earlier or later hour, according to the state
of the weather. When it is cold and clear, they start very early ; but
when warm and rainy, not until late in the morning. Their motions toward
night are determined by the same circumstances. They rise easily
from the ground after running a few steps, fly low for thirty or forty
yards, then rise in circles, crossing each other in their windings, like Vultures,
Ibises, and some other birds. If startled or shot at, they utter
loud and piercing cries. These cries, which I cannot compare to the
sounds of any instrument known to me, I have heard at the distance of
three miles, at the approach of spring, when the males were paying their
addresses to the females, or fighting among themselves. They may be in
some degree represented by the syllables kewrr, kewrr, kewrooh; and
strange and uncouth as they are, they have always sounded delightful in
my ear.
In December 1833, I sent my son to Spring Island, on the coast of
Georgia, to which these birds are in the habit of resorting every winter.
Mr HAMMOND, the proprietor of this island, treated him with all the hospitality
for which the southern planters are celebrated. The Cranes,
which were plentiful, resorted to the sweet potato fields, digging up their
produce as expertly as a troop of negroes. They walked carefully over
the little heaps, probed them in various parts in the manner of Woodcocks
or Snipes, and whenever they hit upon a potato, removed the soil,
took out the root, and devoured it in rather small pieces. In this manner
they would search over the whole field, which was two miles in length, and
rather more than a quarter of a mile in breadth, gleaning all the potatoes
that had escaped the gatherers. They were so shy, however, that notwithstanding
all the endeavours of my son, who is a good hand at getting
in upon game, as well as a good shot, he only killed a young one, which
was evidently of that year's brood, it being yet almost reddish-brown, the
long feathers of the rump just beginning to shew, and the head yet covered
with hairlike feathers to the mandible, and merely shewing between
them the wrinkled skin so conspicuous in the old birds. The specimen
procured on Spring Island was carefully examined and described, and
the skin is now in the British Museum in London. Its flesh was tender
and juicy, of a colour resembling that of young venison, and afforded excellent
eating. This I have always found to be the case with young
birds of this species, so long as they are in their brown livery, and even
when they have begun to be patched with white; but in old birds the
flesh becomes very dark, tough and unfit for the table, although the
Seminole Indians shoot them on all occasions for food.
In captivity the Whooping Crane becomes extremely gentle, and feeds
freely on grain and other vegetable substances. A Mr MAGWOOD, residing
near Charleston, in South Carolina, kept one for some time feeding
it on maize. It accidentally wounded one of its feet on the shell of
an oyster, and, although the greatest care was taken of it, died after lingering
some weeks. Having myself kept one alive, I will give you an account
of its habits.
It was nearly full-grown when I obtained it, and its plumage was
changing from greyish-brown to white. Its figure you will see in the
plate to which this article refers. I received it as a present from Captain
CLACK of the United States Navy, commander of the Erie sloop of war.
It had been wounded in the wing, on the coast of Florida, but the fractured
limb had been amputated and soon healed. During a voyage of
three months, it became very gentle, and was a great favourite with the
sailors. I placed it in a yard, in company with a beautiful Snow Goose.
This was at Boston. It was so gentle as to suffer me to caress it with
the hand, and was extremely fond of searching for worms and grubs
about the wood-pile, probing every hole it saw with as much care and
dexterity as an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. It also watched with all the
patience of a cat the motions of some mice which had burrows near the
same spot, killed them with a single blow, and swallowed them entire, one
after another, until they were extirpated. I fed it on corn and garbage
from the kitchen, to which were added bits- of bread and cheese, as well
as some apples. It would pick up the straws intended to keep its feet
from being soiled, and arrange them round its body, as if intent on forming
a nest. For hours at a time, it would stand resting on one foot in a very
graceful posture ; but what appeared to me very curious was, that it had
a favourite leg for this purpose ; and in fact none of my family ever found
it standing on the other, although it is probable that this happened in
consequence of the mutilation of the wing, the leg employed being that
of the injured side. The stump of its amputated wing appeared to be
a constant source of trouble, particularly at the approach of die winter
: it would dress the feathers about it, and cover it with so much care
that I really felt for the poor fellow. When the weather became intense-
VOL. III. Q