BIRDS OF KANSAS. 133 



ally bunch up, and I have seen them in a triangular form, but, 

 as a rule, they travel in single file, following their leader in a 

 wavy line, croaking as they go, like hounds upon a cold trail. 



In their habits are very social, and I have often noticed them 

 playfully hopping about, but never had the pleasure of witness- 

 ing their mating or amorous dance, but presume it does not dif- 

 fer much, if any, from that of the Sandhill, which I have watched 

 with interest on several occasions. When asleep or at rest usu- 

 ally stand on one leg, with the other drawn up close to the body 

 and the head back upon the breast. 



In their food habits omnivorous, feeding freely upon the vari- 

 ous kinds of grains, vegetables, plants, bulbous roots, worms, 

 reptiles, mice, grasshoppers, etc. 



Eggs two, light brownish drab, sparsely marked, except about 

 the larger end, with irregular spots and blotches of pale choco- 

 late brown, and obscure shell stains of sepia; the shell is rough, 

 with numerous little wart-like elevations; in form, oval to ellip- 

 tical oval. A set taken May 2d, 1882, in Franklin county, Iowa, 

 from a nest placed in a swail, and made of flags and rushes, a 

 platform raised a little above the water, are, in dimensions: 4.01 



x2.60, 4.08x2.66. 



Grus canadensis (LINN.). 



LITTLE BROWN CRANE. 



Migratory; not uncommon. Arrive in March; return the 

 last of October. Omitted from, catalogues by oversight. 



B. 480. R. 584. C. 669. G. , . U. 205. 



HABITAT. ^Northern North America; breeding from Hudson's 

 Bay and Alaska north to the Arctic coast; migrating south 

 through western United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 into Mexico. 



SP. CHAR. "Adult: Entire pileum, including lores, covered with a bare granu- 

 lated skin (reddish in life), interspersed with scattered, fine, blackish hairs; the 

 posterior margin of this bare skin divided medially on the occiput by an angular 

 projection of the feathers on the upper part of the nape. General color of the 

 plumage continuous and nearly uniform plumbeous gray, this frequently stained 

 or overlain in places by a rusty wash; the primaries slate colored, with whitish 

 shafts. Cheeks and throat sometimes distinctly whitish. Legs and feet black- 

 ish; bill blackish, paler at tip; iris crimson. Young: Head entirely feathered. 

 Plumage much as in the adult, but of a lighter and more brownish gray, and al- 

 ways conspicuously stained, especially on upper parts, with tawny cinnamon or 

 ferruginous. " 



