282 GAME BIBDS OF CALIFOBNIA 



Like the Little Brown Crane, this larger cousin is noted for its 

 strange antics during the mating season which resemble a "war 

 dance ' ' of some sort. The ground selected for nesting is usually some 

 extensive meadow, with small lakes here and there. The birds demand 

 a broad outlook on all sides, and a slight elevation is often chosen 

 for the nest, usually nearly or quite surrounded by water. The nest 

 proper is a simple affair, of grass and other vegetation gathered 

 together on the ground to form a shallow mat. The time of egg-laying 

 in the west is indicated by the following data : Camp Harney, Harney 

 County, Oregon, April 14 (1878) to May 2 (1875) ; Gunnison County, 

 Colorado, June 5 (1903) (Cooke, 1914, p. 12). The two young birds 

 in the United States National Museum, with down still adhering to 

 the plumage, taken by Henshaw near Fort Bidwell, Modoc County, 

 July 29, 1878, would indicate a nesting date comparable with the 

 instances just cited. 



Judging from descriptions, the eggs of the Sandhill Crane closely 

 resemble those of the Little Brown, differing only in somewhat larger 

 average size. Chapman (1912, p. 230) gives 3.90 by 2.40 inches for 

 the Sandhill, while Davie (1900, p. 122) gives the averages as 3.98 

 by 2.44. Compare these figures with our average for the Little Brown 

 Crane, of 3.52 by 2.24. 



The food of the Sandhill Crane is doubtless in all respects similar 

 to that of the Little Brown. Both prefer vegetable substances, par- 

 ticularly certain bulbous roots. In the lowlands of Kern County a 

 kind of "little tule," or "tulito," is selected. 



The bill is an efficient tool in obtaining food, and also a powerful 

 weapon of defense. A. quick thrust of this long sharp beak will make 

 a serious wound, and the hunter should take care in approaching a 

 wounded bird. 



There is reason to believe that the Sandhill Crane exists today in 

 but a small fraction of the numbers once present in the interior valleys 

 and plains. Its breeding grounds have been almost altogether taken 

 up for farms and stock-ranching, and in consequence the species as a 

 breeding bird in California is nearly or quite gone. It is likely that 

 some still come to us regularly in the fall either as transients or to 

 pass the winter within our boundaries. So seldom are specimens of 

 cranes secured, that uncertainty obtains as to the actual numbers, 

 relatively, of our two species. 



