GRUS CANADENSIS, SANDHILL CRANE. 533 



tributaries, excepting iu Florida. There it is aboiulaiit, according to 

 several observers. I)r. Bryaut refers to its breeding, stating that two 

 eggs are laid, from early in February until about the middle of April. 

 1 have met with it in various parts of the West, finding it breeding in 

 Northern Dakota, quite ])lentifully, on the broad i)rairie. Xewly-liatched 

 young were secured in July, near Turtle Mountain. Late in Sei)tember 

 and early iu October numbers of this species and G. americana together 

 were migrating through the same region; they ap]>eared to journey 

 chiefly by night. Often, as we lay encamped on the Mouse River, the 

 stillness of midnight would be broken by the hoarse, rattling croaks of 

 Cranes coming overhead, the noise finally dying in the distance, to be 

 succeeded by the shrill ])ipe of numberless waders, the honking of 

 Geese, and the whistle of the })inious of myriads of wild fowl that shot 

 past, sounding to sleepy ears like the rushing sound of a far away loco- 

 motive. 



We have accounts of the Sandhill Cranes from the whole extent of 

 the Mississippi Valley (iu the broad sense of the term), and of their 

 breeding in Iowa and Minnesota, as well as in Dakota. In Alaska, JNIr. 

 Dall says, it is a common bird at St. Michael's and around the mouth 

 of the Yukon, but less so in the interior, as at Kuiato. "The eggs, 

 obtained June 17, on the Yukon River, are laid in a small dei)ression 

 on the sandy beach, without any attempt at a nest." He adds that the 

 fibula is a favorite pipe-stem with the Indians, who, also, are fond of 

 domesticating the young; the birds eating up vermin and insects, as 

 well as refuse scraps of food about the settlements. Further south, ou 

 the Pacific coast, says Dr. Suckley, Sandhill Cranes are very abundant 

 at Puget Sound, ou the Nisqually plains, in autumn. "They there 

 commence to airive from the summer breeding grounds about the last 

 week iu September, from which time until about the 10th of November 

 thej' are quite plentiful. After this they disappear, probably retiiing 

 to warmer latitudes during the cold months. In the fall they are found 

 on all the prairies near Fort Steilacoom, but are not indifferent to choice 

 of certain spots. These are generally old 'stubble-fields,' or spots of 

 ground that have been ploughed. They rise heavily and slowly from 

 the ground on being disturbed, and, flying iu circles, at length acquire 

 the desired elevation. V\'hen proceeding from one favorite resort to 

 another, or when migrating, the flight is high, and not unfie(]uently 

 their approach is heralded, before they are in sight, by theii- incessant, 

 whooping clamor. While feeding they are generally silent.*' To this 

 account Di". Cooper adds that the Brown Cranes are common stimmir 

 residents in Washington Territory, "arriving at the Straits of Fuca in 

 large flocks, in Ajyril, and there dispersing in pairs over the interior 

 prairies to build their nests, which are placed amid the tall fern on the 

 highest and most oi)en ground, where they can see the ai)proa('h of 

 danger. They frequent, at tliis season, the mountains to the height of 

 0,000 feet above the sea. The young are often raised from the nest by 

 the Indians lor food." 



"Iu the autumn and winter," Dr. Newberry observes, "it is abundant 

 on tlie prairies of California, and is always for sale in the markets of 

 San Francisco, where it is liighly esteemed as an article of food. In 

 August we frequently saw them about the Klamath Lakes, and early iu 

 Septend)ei', while in the Cascade Mountains, in Oregon, the Cranes were 

 a constant leature of the sceiu'ry of the beautiftd Init lonely mountain 

 meadows in which we eiieamped. A\'e found them al\\a.\s exceedingly 

 shy and diflicult of approach, but not unfrequently the files of their tail 

 forms stretching above the prairie grass, or their discordant and far- 



