SANDHILL CRANE'S NEST FOUND 41 



identity beyond any shadow of doubt if the 

 record is to receive recognition and be of scientific 

 value. This is usually done by securing one or 

 both of the parent birds. But in this case I had 

 a double interest in wishing to secure the parents : 

 for all along I had never been sure of the identity 

 of this pair of birds — their apparent colour 

 bothered me. Observing them through Zeiss 

 field-glasses they appeared buffish brown tinged 

 in colour, not the leaden slate-grey of the Sand- 

 hill Crane as I knew it in autumn in the plains. 

 (The red on the forehead was very bright, and the 

 neck more greyish than the rest of the specimen.) 

 Was theirs strange plumage of the Sandhill 

 Crane, or could they be Whooping Cranes ? 

 Here was uncommon interest, and I was more 

 keen than ever I had been in my life before to 

 secure those specimens. 1 



Joe and I soon planned a method of outwitting 

 the cranes. I, with my twelve-bore gun, hid 

 among the willows on the island, while Joe put 

 out on to the lake in the canoe, paddled across it, 

 and landed, and hid himself and canoe in the 

 forest to make believe that we had taken our 

 departure. 



I had not long to wait in my hiding-place before 

 my excitement grew intense. The great cranes 

 called, one to the other, appeared in the distance, 

 and soon were swinging overhead, examining the 



1 Since this was written I have had opportunity to look over 

 the half-dozen skins of the Sandhill Crane which are in the 

 British Museum. One of those had, on the forebreast, decided 

 sienna-brown colouring, and I now conclude that the specimens 

 above referred to were this species, but of exceptional sienna 

 breast plumage. 



