NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 145 



home, and never leaves it. Its utterance is a loud, prolonged gobbling 

 noise like that of a turkey, but louder. The nest of this species is made 

 on the ground in the midst of rank grass near marshes. 



583. Sandhill Crane — grus canadensis. Ashy-yellow, spotted and 

 blotched with reddish-brown, of the same general character as those of 

 the preceding species; rather elliptical; size about 3.42 to 2.15, with con- 

 siderable variation. The Brown Crane breeds apparently in sufficiently 

 wild places throughout its range. Dr. Wheaton, in his ' ' Report on the Birds 

 of Ohio," records it as a rare migrant; probably occasional summer resident, 

 and that it has been reported to him as breeding within a few years in 

 the vicinity of Toledo. Mr. Maynard says: "Sandhill Cranes breed in 

 March in Florida, placing their nests in the shallow water of one of the 

 marshes which occasionally occur in the piney woods. The birds heap 

 up a mass of mud, roots, grass, weeds, etc., forming, a conical pile which 

 is elevated about six inches above the water, and which is some eighteen 

 inches in diameter on the top. This is slightly hollowed and the two eggs 

 are deposited on it, while the female sits on them in the ordinary manner 

 by doubling her long legs beneath her." A fine specimen of this 

 Crane came into my hands which was killed out of a flock of 

 eleven near Springfield, Ohio, November 12, 1885. Both this bird and 

 the Great Blue Heron are sometimes confounded under the common name 

 of Blue Crane. 



Hab. Southern half of North America; now rare near the Atlantic coast, except Georgia and Florida. 



585. American Flamingo — phcenicopterus ruber. This magnificent 

 bird of scarlet plumage is a constant resident of the Bahamas and south- 

 ward, and is rare on the Florida Keys. It is a remarkable bird and of 

 striking appearance, having long legs and neck, the former of a lake-red 

 color. The bill is unique in shape, being abruptly bent in the middle, so 

 that when feeding the upper surface faces the ground. The plumage is 

 scarlet throughout, except the primaries and secondaries, which are black. 

 The stature of the bird is nearly five feet and it weighs in the flesh six or 

 eight pounds. The nest of the Flamingo is described as a mass of earth, 

 sticks and other material scooped up from the immediate vicinity to the 

 height of several feet and hollow at the top. On this the birds sit with 

 their legs doubled under them. The old story of the Flamingo bestriding 

 its nest in an ungainly attitude while incubating is an absurd fiction. The 

 eggs are one or two in number, with a thick shell, roughened, with a 

 white flakey substance, but bluish when this is scraped off. It requires 

 thirty-two days for the eggs to hatch. 



Hab. Atlantic coasts of subtropical America; Florida Keys. 



