100 NOTES ON THE 



conditions of food and protection. They reach us the first 

 week in April, four years out of five, and commence incubation 

 by the first week in May. They generally gather loosely 

 together some dried, coarse grasses and weeds for the nest, in 

 which they deposit from two to four drab-brown, rough- 

 shelled eggs. 



In many instances, the indications of a nest are ridiculously 

 small, and not infrequently entirely wanting. I have never 

 known them to rear more than one brood in a single summer, 

 but there are cases in which for some reason the nesting has 

 been exceptionally delayed, and quite young birds are seen 

 late in July. The earlier birds, although yet unable to fly, will 

 give a man a lively race to overtake them when they are six 

 weeks out of the shell. In Noble and Jackson counties, some 

 ten or twelve years ago, the Sandhill Cranes reared their 

 young in great numbers, on the dry flat prairies, where many 

 of them were often taken before they were grown enough to 

 fly. Rev. Mr. Mitchell, of St. Paul, then residing in this Cit}', 

 passed through that section at the time that the young were in 

 this stage of development, and ran one of them down, which 

 he brought home with him, and subsequently made it a 

 present to me. I kept it until it was two years of age, and 

 took great pleasure in studying its peculiar habits and tract- 

 ability. It was a great joker in its way, always getting the 

 better end of things. Nothing possible that it could swallow 

 failed to get into its maw, from a pocket knife, double-ten nail, 

 teaspoon, spools of thread, and bits of tin, to a dozen large 

 sized marbles. Of course, these were after a time regurgi- 

 tated, as all indigestible matters are with many of the birds of 

 other orders also. He was fond of toads in the absence of 

 frogs and fishes, and did not object to small chicken when he 

 did not get a supply of his favorite food. By keeping his 

 wings cropped. I was enabled to allow him considerable lati- 

 tude, and he would often enjoy a pose on one foot, while the 

 other was drawn close to his body, seeming to be asleep until 

 something unusual aroused him. Immediately upon discover- 

 ing him, big dogs and little dogs would dash at him to seize 

 him, till noticing his apparent indifference, the smaller ones 

 would desist, but the larger ones, more selfreliant would 

 venture in the radial reach of his bill, after which they in- 

 variably changed their minds, finding they had no further use 

 for "Sandie." a name given him by Mr. Mitchell, upon his 

 capture. 



