The Sandhill Cranes 



No. 301 



Little Brown Crane 



A. 0. U. No. 205. Grus canadensis canadensis (Linnaeus). 



Synonyms. — Northern Brown Crane. Little Sandhill Crane. Canadian- 

 Crane. 



Description. — Adult: General plumage slaty gray (unmixed in the rarely-seen, 

 fully-mature birds, but usually) more or less washed especially on back and scapulars, 

 with ochraceous or rusty, — this rusty sometimes abruptly confined to scattered single 

 feathers; throat and sides of head paling to whitish; alula and wing-quills blackish, the 

 shafts of primaries white; top of head to below eye bare, dull red, the skin minutely 

 warty, and with some short, bristly black hairs. Bill, feet and legs black. Immature: 

 Head entirely or decreasingly feathered ; plumage heavily washed with brownish and 

 overlaid or invaded by rusty, especially above, — this color clear but evanescent on 

 crown, most persistent on wing-coverts. Length of adult about 889 (35.00); wing 

 482.6 (19.00); tail 190.5 (7.50); bill 96 (3.78); depth at nostril (rear) 18.8 (.74); tarsus 

 194 (7.64); middle toe and claw 85.1 (3.35). 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size; slaty gray or brownish color; elongated pro- 

 portions of bill, neck, and tarsus; smaller than next- form. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: On drier portion of grassy flat, 

 a shallow platform of weed-stems and dried grasses. Eggs: 2; light greenish clay- 

 color to light olive-brown or avellanecu*s, marked rather obscurely with dull reddish 

 brown and brownish drab. A v. size 94 x 61 (3.70 x 2.40). Season: c. June 1st. 



Range of Grus canadensis. — North America, breeding from Alaska and Arctic 

 islands south to Florida and Louisiana; wintering south to Mexico. 



Range of G. c. canadensis. — Breeds from northern Alaska and the Arctic coast 

 south to the mouth of the Yukon, southern Mackenzie, and central Keewatin (but 

 southern limits imperfectly defined as between canadensis and mexicanus) . Migrates 

 chiefly through the interior, and winters south to California, Texas, and Jalisco. 



Occurrence in California. — Imperfectly distinguished from that of following 

 form. Probably much the commoner bird during migrations, practically throughout 

 the State. Winters sparingly in the San Joaquin Valley. 



Authorities. — A. K. Fisher (Grus canadensis), N. Amer. Fauna, no. 7, 1893, 

 p. 20 (Ash Meadows, Nevada-California boundary line); Grinnell, Condor, vol. xi., 

 1909, p. 128 (occurrence in s. Calif.); /. Mailliard, Condor, vol. xiii., 191 1, p. 50 (Los 

 Banos; measurements); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric. Bull. no. 128, 1914, p. 7, map (distr. 

 and migr.); Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, Game Birds Calif., 1918, p. 273 (desc. occur., 

 habits). 



SPRINGTIME in California is like the gradual unfolding of a flower, 

 a little more perfect each day. In the East it is either a gift or a conquest, 

 a tropical favor or a disheveled bouquet, a something to be striven for, 

 now flung in lush promise at the feet of expectant humanity, or sud- 

 denly snatched away again, according as Boreas or Flora wins each swiftly 

 succeeding bout. In the West it is not so; and there be those of us who 



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