The Sandhill Cranes 



Recognition Marks. — Eagle size; slaty gray or brownish color; crane propor- 

 tions, distinctive from all except the Great Blue Heron, from which it is further dis- 

 tinguished by more uniform coloration and absence of specially developed feathers, and 

 by its much smaller black beak. The tertials of this bird, moreover, are lengthened 

 and luxuriant, making a conspicuous quasi-train. 



Nesting. — Nest: Of sticks, roots, grass, and trash, built up in shallow water or 

 in open situation. Eggs: 2; light olive-brown, or deep reddish olive-buff, marked 

 more or less obscurely with dull reddish brown (army brown to warm sepia) and brown- 

 ish drab. Av. size 99.1x63.5 (3.90x2.50). Season: February-May, according to 

 latitude; one brood. 



Range of G. c. mexicanus. — Breeds from south-central British Columbia, Sas- 

 katchewan, Manitoba and (formerly at least) Ontario, south to California, Arizona, 

 Colorado, Nebraska, and Ohio; also in Louisiana and Florida, where resident. Winters 

 from California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana south over Mexico. 



Occurrence in California. — Of limited occurrence in summer, and probably 

 breeding in northern, especially northeastern portion of State. Is seen also about 

 certain Sierran meadows at high levels. Has been seen in summer near Tulare Lake 

 (Goldman), but there is no recent account of nesting within the limits of the State. 

 Sparingly resident in winter at least in the San Joaquin Valley. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Gms mexicana), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, i., 

 1849, p. 221 (California); Coues, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 534 (eggs from Ft. 

 Crook, Calif.); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, Bull no. 128, 1914, p. 10, map (distr. and 

 migr.); Shufeldt, Anatomical Record, vol. ix., 1915, p. 740, figs, (osteology; relation- 

 ships) ; Swarth, Condor, vol. xxi., 1919, p. 212 (meas., color of "soft parts," etc.). 



IF THE PIONEER West were to choose a bird symbol, none could 

 be more fitting than the Sandhill Crane. Like the buffalo, and the Indian 

 (at his savage best), the crane stands for that type of the wilderness which 

 the white man may obliterate, indeed, but cannot subdue. He is the typi- 

 cal child of the desert, and between him and civilization there is a gulf 

 fixed, a gulf which shot-guns and reclamation projects have done much to 

 widen. 



The trouble began, of course, away back, when it was decreed that his 

 flesh was "kosher" — and not only clean but sapid withal, "much resem- 

 bling that of the Swan in flavor," as Nuttall observes. [Fancy using Swan's 

 flesh as a basis of comparison ! Truly we have made some progress in the 

 past century.] "In the autumn and winter," Dr. Newberry said, "it [the 

 Brown Crane, i. e. canadensis plus mexicanus, undistinguished] is abundant 

 on the prairies of California and is always for sale in the markets of San 

 Francisco, where it is highly esteemed as an article of food." Well, it may 

 be true, but that is why the Sandhill Crane has become a tradition in 

 states where it formerly abounded, and a bundle of nerves in most places 

 where it still maintains a foothold. 



Alert, wary, and sagacious the Sandhill Crane has always been, for 

 even the hand of the redman was against him. But these qualities have 



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