NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 243 



seen. As soon as two or three groups had reached this hill a curious dance com- 

 menced. Several raise their heads high in the air and walk around and around 

 slowly. Suddenly the heads are lowered to the ground and the birds become 

 great bouncing balls. Hopping high in the air, part of the time with raised 

 wings, and part with dropping, they cross and recross each other's paths. Slowly 

 the speed and wildness increases, and the hopping over each other, until it 

 becomes a blurr. The croaking, which commenced only after the dancing 

 became violent, has become a noise. The performance continues, increasing in 

 speed for a few minutes, and then rapidly dies completely out, only to start again 

 upon the arrival of more recruits. By 7 o'clock all have arrived, and then for an 

 hour or so a number are constantly dancing. Occasionally the whole flock of 

 200 or so break into a short spell of crazy skipping and hopping. By 9 o'clock 

 all are tired and the flock begins to break up into groups of from four to eight 

 and these groups slowly feed to the windward, diverging slowly, or fly to some 

 distance. 



Nesting. — The only nests of the sandhill crane that I have seen have 

 been m Florida. Here the cranes nest in the shallow ponds in the 

 open flat, pine woods, or on the prairies, though much more commonly 

 in the prairie ponds. There are two types of ponds which they seem 

 to prefer; these are well illustrated by two nests found on March 

 21, 1925, on the Kissimmee prairie, near Bassenger, in Okeechobee 

 County. The first nest was in a small shallow pond, only about a 

 foot deep, overgrown with an open, scanty growth of "pond cypress," 

 a small plant with a woody stem and feathery leaves that grows 

 only a foot or two above the water. The bulky nest was in plain 

 sight from the shore of the pond; the crane had seen us and left it, 

 as we approached. It was a large pile of dead reeds, rushes, tufts of 

 grass and entire plants of pond cypress, torn up with the roots; it 

 was built up 6 or 8 inches above the water and measured 38 by 33 

 inches in diameter. 



The second nest was out near the middle of a large pond which 

 was overgrown with a dense growth of pickerel weed (Pontederia) in 

 water 2 feet deep or more. It was so well concealed that my guide 

 walked within 10 or 15 yards of it, to the leeward, without seeing it 

 or flushing the bird; but, as I walked by on the windward side con- 

 siderably farther away from it, she flew off with the usual series of 

 rolling, guttural croaks; the eggs were on the point of hatching, which 

 may have caused her to sit more closely. The nest was a huge pile 

 of dead reeds and rushes, built up 6 or 8 inches above the water, and 

 measuring 60 by 45 inches. Ponds of these two types are numerous 

 on the Florida prairies, the pickerel weed ponds being much com- 

 moner; but one must not expect to find a crane's nest in every pond. 

 Much hard f ramping is necessary which becomes very tiresome in 

 thick vegetation and water knee deep. The most efficient way to 

 hunt the nests is on horseback, which gives one a better outlook and 

 saves much hard work. One day in Charlotte County we worked 

 all day, seeing no less than 30 cranes, but did not find a single nest. 



