670 EEPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



*75. (206). Grus mexicana (MULL). 



Sandhill Crane. 



Adult. With, the bare part of head forking behind to receive a 

 pointed extensi6n of the occipital feathers, not reaching on the sides 

 below the eyes, and sparsely hairy; bill, moderately stout, with nearly 

 straight and scarcely ascending gonys, that part of the under mandible 

 not so deep as the upper at the same place; adult plumage, plumbeous 

 gray, never whitening; primaries, and their coverts, blackish. 

 Immature. With head feathered and plumage varied with rusty 

 brown; rather smaller than the last. 



Length, 40.00-48.00; wing, 21.00-22.50 (21.83); bill, 5.15-6.00 

 (5.47); depth of bill at base, .95-1.10 (1.01); tarsus, 9.90-10.65 (10.25); 

 middle toe, 3.40-3.60 (3.50); bare part of tarsus, 4.60-5.00 (4.78). 



EANGE. North America, north to Ontario, Michigan and Mani- 

 toba. Most abundant from Mississippi Valley to Pacific coast. Casu- 

 ally to Hudson Bay. Rare on Atlantic coast north of Georgia. Breeds 

 locally throughout its range. Winters in Gulf States and Mexico. 



Nest, on ground in grassy ponds and marshes, of grass, reeds, 

 etc. Eggs, 2; olive-brown or drab, spotted with brown and gray; 3.98 

 by 2.44. 



Regular migrant; sometimes common. Occasional summer visitor. 

 Occasional summer resident in northwestern Indiana. Formerly breed- 

 ing abundantly in the large marshes of the State (Brayton). It is most 

 commonly found in the Wabash Valley and northward; elsewhere very- 

 rare. It has been noted but once in the Whitewater Valley Dr. 

 Rufus Raymond saw three specimens. 



Many people confound this bird with the Great Blue Heron, which 

 is popularly known by the erroneous rjame "Blue Crane/'' 



The Herons are distinctly fishers and frequent the waterways, while 

 the Sandhill Crane frequents pastures, fields, dryer marshes, and 

 prairies, and subsists upon field mice, grasshoppers, and other insects, 

 and vegetable food, notably potatoes and sweet potatoes, of which they 

 are very fond. 



They pass north in the spring, in March and early April. The ear- 

 liest arrival I have is March 7, 1894, when Mr. Deane noted a flock at 

 English Lake. The earliest spring record for the southern part of the 

 State is Bicknell, Knox County, March 21, 1895 (Chansler). Mr. S. 

 T. Sterling reported it from Camden, Carroll County, April 13, 1888. 



Mr. Ruthven Deane tells me that at English Lake March 25, 1892, 

 he could hear them all day uttering their hoarse, guttural rattle, while 

 soaring so high one could not see them, as the atmosphere was a little 



