GRinD.E — TIIK CKANES — GRUS. 407 



inches long in the stomach of one of tliis species. He describes the cries nttered by 

 this bird as loud and piercing — so loud that they might be lieard at the distance of 

 three miles. The flesh of the young bird he speaks of as being tender and juicy, 

 while in the old birds it becomes very dark and tough, and is unfit for the talile. In 

 captivity this Crane is extremely gentle, and will feed freely on grain anil dlher 

 vegetable substances. 



My. Audubon kept one, while ho was in Boston, which had been taken, wliile 

 young, on the Florida coast, a wing having betni fractured and afterward am]ju- 

 tated. This bird was very gentle, and would suffer him to caress it with tlie liand. 

 It searched the wood-pile for worms and grul)s, watched with the i)atience of a cat 

 for mice, and would swallow them whole. It also feil on corn and garl)age from the 

 kitchen. At times it would look upward, and, as if calling to some acquaintance 

 passing high in the air, would cry aloud. It was naturally suspicious of some lurk- 

 ing danger; and sometimes, on very slight occasion, would manifest a sudtleu and 

 causeless alarm, as if some dreaded enemy were at hand. 



This bird has never been detected on the Pacific coast, or west of the Great Plains ; 

 and as G. canadensis mexicana is common there, this of itself is suflicient evidence 

 of the difference of the two species. ^Ir. Kennicott met with it at Fort Resolution, 

 May 20, and procured a specimen. A nest of this species, containing two eggs, was 

 found near Salt River, not far from Fort Resolution, Great Slave Lake, in 1864. 

 The eggs (Smithsonian Institution, No. 9288) measure, one 3.80 inches by 2.60, the 

 other 3.70 iuches by 2.50. Their ground-color is a deeji grayish white, with a wash- 

 ing of sepiia, marked sparsely, except at the larger end, with bold patches of dark 

 rusty sepia-brown, and more obscure blotches of an opaque sepia. These last are 

 thinly scattered over nearly the whole egg. At the extreme portion of the obtuse 

 end these markings are far more numerous, become confluent, and form an irregular 

 crown. The eggs are oval in shape, and a little more rounded at one end than at 

 the other. 



Grus canadensis. 



a. canadensis. THE LITTLE BKOWN CRANE. 



Ardea canadensis, Lixx. eil. 10, I. irfiS, 141 ; ed. 12, 1766, 234 {based on Edwards, I. 33 ; Bkiss. 



V. 385). — FoRST. Philos. Jour. LXII. 1772, 409 (Severn li.). 

 Grus canadensis, Temm. Man. I. 1820, p. c. — Sabine, Franklin's Jour. 6S5. — Richards, Parry's 



Second Voy. 3.53. — .Sw. & Kicii. F. B. A. II. 1831, 373. — Boxap. Consp. I. 18.50, 98. — Set. 



Ibis, 1860, 418 (Hudson's Bay). — Blakist. Ibis, 1863, 128 (int. Brit. Am.). — Dall k Baxxist. 



Trans. Chicago Acad. I. 1869, 289 (St. Michael's, Ahiska). — Tacz. J. f. 0. 1S73, 112 (X. E. 



Siberia). — C'ouEs, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 669. 

 Grus filial (part), Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XIIL 1817, 558 (includes both forms). 

 Grus poliophaxi, Wagl. Syst. Av. 1827, Grus, sp. 7 (based on Edwards). 

 Grus fratcrculus, Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 656 (=jnv. \ New Mexico !) Baird, Cat. N. 



Am. B. 1859, no. 480. — Allex, Bull. N. 0. C, \. 1880, 123. — RiDow. ib. 187 ; Norn. N. Am. 



B. 1881, no. 584. 

 Grxis fraUrcula, Tacz. Bull. See. Zool. France, 1876, 246. 

 Blue Crane, Foi;sr. 1. c. 



Broiim Crane, Pexx. Arct. Zool. II. 1785, 443. — L.\TH. Synop. III. 1785, 43. 

 Litlh Brtmii Crane, Ridgw. 1. c 

 Nortliem Sandhill Crane, CouEs, 1. c. 



3. mexicana. THE SANDHILL CRANE. 



Ardea (grus) mexicana, Muli.eh, S. N. Suppl. 1776, 110 (ex Biass. V. 380). 



Ardea canadensis, var. ^, Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 1790, 676 (Mexico). 



Grus pratensis, B.\KT}i. Travels, 1791, 144, 218 (descr.). — CoUES, Check Li.st, 2d ed. 1882, no. 670. 



