194 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.. [Vor. XXXIX. 
The Sandhill Crane is rare and of local distribution in the 
Isle of Pines, and was only met with in the high, open country 
just north of the Cienaga, where it usually occurred in pairs, 
though on one occasion a flock of six was seen. When dis- 
turbed, it utters a loud honking or gobbling call note not unlike 
some of the sounds produced by the Domestic Turkey. The 
birds seen were always exceedingly shy, and the two specimens 
were secured with a good deal of difficulty. 
On May 20, a small downy young individual was found run- 
ning about alone. It was exactly the color of the soil. It was 
kept alive for a day or two but would not eat anything given 
it. The skin is that of a young not long hatched. It is covered 
with down which is tawny along the back, tawny-ochraceous on 
sides, and whitish on throat and middle of belly. 
After careful comparison of a large series of North American 
Sandhill Cranes, we feel fairly sure that the birds still breeding 
in Florida are not different from those that breed in North 
Dakota and other parts of the west. Probably in former years 
the breeding range was continuous or nearly so, and it is due to 
the interference of man that the Florida bird is now isolated. 
In the breeding season the Sandhill Crane is much browner, 
— losing most of the pearly gray of the back and neck, — than 
in fresh autumn plumage, and this is true of birds both from the 
west and from Florida. Unfortunately, however, we have seen 
only breeding birds and birds killed in early spring from Florida, 
and therefore no gray ones, but we have no doubt that fresh 
autumnal specimens from Florida would be quite as gray as those 
from the west. In measurements there is no difference. 
The bird of the Isle of Pines, and almost certainly Cuba also, 
differs from that of the continent in its decidedly shorter tarsus, 
heavier bill, and slightly smaller size. In color the difference is 
slight, but still our two Isle of Pines skins are rather darker and 
browner than any breeding Florida birds with which we have 
been able to compare them. 
41. Aramus giganteus holostictus (Cab.)! * GuARACAO." 
! Notherodius holostictus Cabanis, Journ. J. Orn., p. 426, 1856, based on Cuban 
specimens. 
