CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 137 
I have carefully read Mr Ernest Seton-Thompson’s account of 
Grus mexicana in his Birds of Manitoba, and am of the opinion 
that some of his “Sandhill Cranes” were Grus canadensis. Indeed 
in quoting Dr. Coues he says that he (Coues) found this species 
breeding west of Pembina when in reality Dr. Coues says it was 
the Brown Crane he found there. See Coues on Birds of Dakota 
and Montana, page 646. It is possible, however, that Dr. Coues 
gave the wrong name to his species. 
In my earlier explorations I was mislead in this same way by 
both cranes being called “Sandhill Cranes.” In 1872 aspecimen 
of this species was caught with a lasso by one of our men, who 
ran him down, when moulting in August of that year. This 
specimen was much heavier than the 10 lb. specimens of Mr. 
Seton-Thompson. Richardson’s specimen, killed on Great Slave 
Lake in 1822, was forty-eight inches long, so,that it was certainly 
this species also. Fannin and Brooks say that it is a summer 
resident in Southern British Columbia, but chiefly east of the Coast 
Range, though not so common as the Little Brown Crane which 
is, however, chiefly a migrant. 
BREEDING Notres.—The Sandhill Crane comes to southern 
Manitoba about the end of April, circling around high in the blue 
and uttering its peculiar call. When mating it repairs to some 
hillock or knoll and executes a sort of war dance by dancing 
around and flapping its huge wings. It usually breeds on some 
tussock of decaying vegetation in a marsh, building quite a large 
nest of moss and rushes. I have never seen more than two eggs 
in the nest. These are shaped and coloured very much like those 
of the Loon, though perhaps, a little more pointed. The young 
leave the nest almost immediately after hatching. They are 
clothed with a thick ferrugineous down, and have legs about four 
inches long. If caught when very young they are easily tamed, 
readily eating bread or scraps of meat, and are of great service to 
a gardener. I have seen one about a month old go down a line 
of onions and take up every cut-worm from their roots, as if an 
inch and a half of mould were perfectly transparent. After the 
young are fully grown they gather into flocks of from twenty to 
thirty and migrate southwards in the early autumn. (Cecil 
Selwyn.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMEN. 
One fine specimen purchased with the Holman collection in 
1885. 
