100 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



I 



Ardea canadensis, var. ft. LATH. Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 676 (Mexico). 



Grus pratensis BABTK. Travels, 1791, 144, 218. COUES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 670. 



Grusfusca (part) VIEILL. Nouv. Diet, xiii, 1817, 558. 



Grus canadensis NUTT. Man. ii, 1834, 38 (nee Ardea canadensis LINN.). BAIED, B. N. 



Am. 1858, 655 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 479. COTJES, Key , 1872, 271 ; Check List, 1873, No. 463 ; 



B. N. W. 1874, 532. HENSH. Zool. Wheeler's Exp. 1875, 467. KIDGW. Orn. 40th Par. 



1877, 611 ; Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 583. 

 Cms americana (supposed young) AUD. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 441, pi. 261; Synop. 1839. 



219; B. Am. v, 1842, 188, pi. 314. 



HAB. Southern half of North America, but now very rare along Atlantic coast north of 

 Georgia; south to central Mexico; breeding in Florida and Cuba, and from the States im- 

 mediately west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast; winters in the Gulf States and 

 in Mexico. 



SP. CHAE. Adult: Entire pileum, including lores, covered with a bare, granulated skin 

 (reddish in life), interspersed with scattered fine blackish hairs; the posterior margin of 

 this bare skin divided medially, on the occiput, by an angular projection of the feathers on 

 the upper part of the nape. General color of the plumage continuous and nearly uniform 

 slaty gray, this frequently stained or overlaid in places by a rusty wash, the primaries 

 slate-colored, with whitish shafts. Cheeks and throat sometimes distinctly whitish. Legs 

 and feet blackish ; bill blackish, paler at tip ; iris crimson? Young: Head entirely feath- 

 ered. Plumage much as in the adult, but of a lighter and more brownish gray, and always 

 conspicuously stained, especially on upper parts, with tawny-cinnamon or rusty. 



Sandhill Cranes usually arrive in Illinois on their way north- 

 ward during the latter half of March, and return in October or 

 November. Formerly, large numbers remained within the State 

 to breed, but so thickly has the country become settled, that 

 those which now do so are very few indeed at least in com- 

 parison with former years. As long ago as 1876, Mr. Nelson 

 stated that, while formerly nesting abundantly on all the large 

 marshes, but few then bred except on one or two large marshes 

 in the central part of the State, where he was informed they 

 were "still quite numerous". Just where the large marshes in 

 question are located, Mr. Nelson has not told us. 



During their migrations they pass high in the air, often be- 

 yond the limits of sight, but making their presence known by 

 their sonorous, rattling, trumpet-like notes, which have been 

 aptly compared to the sound "made by the blocks and ropes 

 when hoisting sail on a vessel". 



Unlike the Great Blue Heron, which usually passes under the 

 name of "crane" or "blue crane," the Sandhill Crane feeds more 

 in meadows, prairies, and plowed fields than in marshes, and 

 its food, instead of being chiefly frogs, crayfish, and fishes, con- 

 sists largely of field-mice and other small mammals, grasshop- 

 pers, succulent roots, seeds, etc., potatoes, and especially sweet 



