620 THE SANDHILL CRANE. 



portiiins of bill, neck, and tarsus; considerably larger tlian tbc jn'eccding species. 



Nesting. — Xcst: a platform of roots, reeds, weed-stalks, etc., raised sligbtly 

 above water or mud of swamp. Eggs: 2, grayisli olive or drab, spottetl and 

 blotched distinctly and obscurely with reddish brown. .\v. size 4.00x2.45 

 (101.6 X 62.2). Season: c. June ist; one brood. 



General Range. — Southern half of North America; rare near the Atlantic 

 Coast, except in (Georgia and Florida. 



Range in Washington. — Common migrant and not common summer resi- 

 dent both .sides of the Cascades: — decreasing in numbers as breeding range is 

 settled. 



Authorities. — Gnts canadensis, Temm. Baird, Rep. I'ac. R. R. Surv. 1S58. 

 656. (T). Ce^S. L'. Rh. D'. D^ J. IS. E. 



Specimens. — ( U. of W.) Prov. 



11" the pioneer We.st were to choose a bird symbol, none could be more 

 fitting than the Sandhill Crane. Like the buffalo, and the Indian (at his 

 savage best), the crane stands for that life of the wililerness which the white 

 man may obliterate, indeed, but cannot subdue. He is the typical child of the 

 desert, and between him and civilization there is a gulf fixed, a gulf which 

 shot-guns and reclamation projects ha\e done much to widen. 



The trouble began, of course, away back when it was decreed that 

 his flesh was "kosher" — and not only clean but sapid withal, "much re- 

 sembling that of the Swan in llavor." as Xuttall oliserves. (Fancy using 

 Swan's flesh as a basis of comparison ! Truly we have made some prog- 

 ress in the past centur\-, ) "In the autunui and winter." Dr. Newberry 

 said, "it [the Sandhill Crane] is abundant on the prairies of California, 

 and is always for sale in the markets of San Francisco, where it is highly 

 esteemed as an article of food." \\'ell, it may be true, Init that is wdiy 

 the Sandhill Crane has become a tradition in states where it formerly 

 abounded, and a biuidle of ner\-es in most places where it still maintains a 

 foothold. 



Alert, war\-, and sagacious the Sandhill Crane alwa^'s was, for e\'en 

 the hand of the Red-man was against him. These qtialities have attained 

 their highest development since the advent of the hungry Whites: so that a 

 studv of these birds is no longer classed as natural history, but only as 

 morbid psychology. 



The case is not so bad on the East-side, where in certain sections, 

 notablv the Horse Heaven country in Benton and Klickitat Counties, the 

 birfls still maintain themselves in consideralile numbers. In spring, at least, 

 thev feed upon the highlands until ten o'clock in the morning: then, as- 

 sembling into companies and ])latoons, they jiroceed to a lonely spot on the 

 Columbia River, where, if undisturbed, they drink ;uid plash and croak for 

 hours at a stretch, some lingering indeed into the night. 



