Formerly numerous, the "Crying Bird" has become practically extinct in the small area of its North American range. I heard its loud hawk call in the Everglades west of Palm Beach in 1896 but did not see the bird hidden in the dense sawgrass.
Tameness, edibility and slow movements combined against its survival where natives lived largely "off the land!" Walking, they resemble rails; in flight, Herons; and they tread reed mazes with the former's facility — treetops with the latter's ease.
NEST of reeds and grass among sawgrass clumps; or of twigs in small trees or bushes.
EGGS — 4 to 8; olive or cream buff splashed with shades of brown.
Interior swamps of Florida and northeastern Georgia.