NOBTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 245 



ing, and every season have seen sandhill cranes {Grus mexicana) flying overhead 

 and heard their melodious(?) notes, but did not find a nest until June 5, 1903, 

 when, while chopping out a line across the top of a little knoll just south of a 

 small pond, my assistant disturbed a crane. This kept flying about and croaking 

 so anxiously as to make him think there was a nest there, and going to see he 

 found it, with two eggs. When I came along he showed it to me. Out about 20 

 feet from the shore was the nest, on a bare space among some tussocks of grass 

 which lay more or less in a line. The water was not very deep but the mud 

 was and I could not get to the nest as thero was nothing of which to make a 

 bridge, so I had to content myself with a careful examination from the shore. 

 The nest was irregular in shape, about 2 feet across and made of dead marsh 

 grass. On this platform, such as it was practically, lay the two large eggs, look- 

 ing, my man said, something like turkey eggs. 



Eggs. — The sandhill crane usually lays two eggs, sometimes only 

 one, and very rarely three. The shape varies from ovate to elongate 

 ovate. The shell is smooth, with little or no gloss, but there are gen- 

 erally a few pimples on it and sometimes it is finely pitted. The eggs 

 average much lighter in color than those of the other two cranes; 

 and they are marked more sparingly with smaller blotches and spots. 

 The markings are sometimes quite evenly distributed, but are often 

 massed at the larger end. The underlying markings are in shades of 

 "drab-gray," "ecru drab" or "pale vinaceous drab." These are over- 

 laid with spots of "Isabella color," "Saccardo's umber," "snuff 

 brown," and "brownish drab." 



The measurements of 43 eggs average 96.2 by 61.4 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 109.5 by 60.5, 98.2 by 66.3, 

 84 by 55 millimeters. 



Young. — Nothing seems to be known about the period of incuba- 

 tion of any of the North American cranes; but we do know that both 

 sexes incubate. Young cranes belong to the precocial class, but they 

 probably remain in the nest for a day or so after they are hatched, 

 ])erhaps for only a few hours liowever. Dr. Henry Bryant (1861) 

 says : 



The young remain with their parents until fully grown, and are fed for a long 

 time by regurgitation. They do not fly until they are as large as their parents, 

 but run with great speed, and hide like a young partridge. 



Mr. Moore says in his notes: 



No one here, and I have questioned many, has seen the young in the nest; 

 many have, however, seen the young not much larger in the body than a turkey 

 a week old, walking about with their parents; which seem to remain with them 

 till they are several months, probably a year, old, as two pairs are often seen 

 in coiTipany from April and May till January. The young are often seen, and 

 sometimes caught by a person giving chase, on foot, and overtaking them, after 

 they are quite large, but still unable to flj'. At such times the parents remain 

 at a safe distance, deserting their captive ofi'spring, but expressing their anxiety 

 by uttering their peculiar notes loudly, and walking hither and thither over the 

 ground. They never attack the persons at such times. 

 92642— 26t 17 



