136 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
larger and have longer bills. The Sandhill Crane reached Carle- 
ton House April 28th, 1887, and Dr. G. M. Dawson recorded it at 
Dufferin, Man., between April 25th and 30th, 1874. 
In The Auk for January, 1893, Mr. E. Seton-Thompson speaks of 
a specimen of this bird being killed on the Ou’Appelle River. On 
September 16th, 1881, the writer shot a specimen near Fort Pelly 
which was certainly the Little Brown Crane as it was much 
smaller than the one taken on the prairie in 1872. More light is 
needed on the distribution of the two species named Sandhill 
Cranes by the people generally. Either this species or the next is 
scattered over the country from the 4oth parallel to the Arctic 
Ocean and is specially abundant in Alaska and British Columbia. 
BREEDING Notres.—As a rule this species is not seen on the 
Lower Yukon until about May 7th or later, when the ground 1s 
half bare and the cranes can search every hillside for last year’s 
heath-berries, which, with an occasional lemming or mouse, con- 
stitute their food at this season. The site for the nest is usually 
on grassy flats, where the drier portions or the slight knolls 
afford them suitable places. The spot usually has an unobstructed 
view on all sides, and it is common to see the female’s long neck 
raised suspiciously at the appearance in the distance of anything 
unusual. The nest is frequently a mere hollow in the ground, and 
is commonly lined with more or less coarse grass-stems and 
straws. In one instance a nest was found on a bare flat and was 
lined with a layer of straws an inch deep, all of which must have 
been brought some distance ; this is unusual, however. The two 
eggs which this bird always lays, are generally deposited during 
the last few days of May or early June. (We/son.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMEN. 
One specimen purchased with the Holman collection in 1885. 
206. Sandhill Crane. 
Grus mexicana (MULL.) VIEILL. 1817. 
Mr. MclIlwraith in his eras of Ontario gives two instances of 
the breeding of this species in southwestern Ontario and men- 
tions the killing of another specimen at Rondeau, Lake Erie, in 
1869. 
