. Guide leaflet. ing and calling. Their matri-monial affairs settled, one hears only the loud but sonorous trumpetingof the male which, when heard near by, is harsh and rasping, but, whensoftened by distance, becomes one of the most attractive sounds of aFlorida dawn. Although superficially resembling Herons, Cranes are more nearlyrelated to the Rails. Young Cranes, like young Rails, are born thicklycovered with down, and they run shortly after leaving the egg. Theyoung Heron, on the contrary, is hatched scantily covered with hair-likefeathers and spends over a month in the nest. Cranes furthe
. Guide leaflet. ing and calling. Their matri-monial affairs settled, one hears only the loud but sonorous trumpetingof the male which, when heard near by, is harsh and rasping, but, whensoftened by distance, becomes one of the most attractive sounds of aFlorida dawn. Although superficially resembling Herons, Cranes are more nearlyrelated to the Rails. Young Cranes, like young Rails, are born thicklycovered with down, and they run shortly after leaving the egg. Theyoung Heron, on the contrary, is hatched scantily covered with hair-likefeathers and spends over a month in the nest. Cranes further differfrom Herons by flying with the neck fully extended (see the birds in thepainting), while Herons fly with a fold in the neck which brings the headnearly back to the shoulders. Cranes an- less aquatic than Herons. One may see them walkingabout the pine woods or over the prairies, dignified, stately figures,hunting for seeds, roots, grasshoppers, snails or lizards, while near thewater, frogs are captured. 21. a < -3 z > a O PQ 9. THE BROWN PELICAN ON PELICAN ISLAND, FLORIDA BROWN Pelicans normally nest in hushes, and when the birdsfirst came to Pelican Island, Florida, the island was covered withmangroves, in which the birds placed their nests. Severe frostsand over-use by the Pelicans killed all but a few trees. When thesewere occupied by from two to five nests each, the remaining birds builttheir nests on the ground, most of them resorting to a sandbar at theeast end of the island, where they were as thickly grouped as the paintingindicates. The young Pelican (ground nest, front, left, in the group) is bornnaked. When about ten days old a downy plumage begins to appear,which soon changes the bird from black to snowy white (ground mrear and front). The brown flight-plumage now begins to grow, showing-first in the shoulders and humeri (ground nests, front, center and right ),and at the age of about two months this pluma
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
