Nesting of the Sandhill Crane 
169 
The owl’s nest was not tidy. There was no indication of any 
nesting material or lining, but the cavity was littered with bits 
of fur, bones and miscellaneous matter in various stages of de- 
composition, with an unpleasant odor. 
NESTING OF THE SANDHILL CRANE, WARNER 
VALLEY, OREGON 
BY 1)R. A. G. PRILL, SCIO, OREGON 
During my visit to this region in May and June of this year 
I was fortunate in locating the nest of a number of Sandhill 
Cranes. Nests of this species are by no means common, and 
require days of traveling through the marshes, and overflow 
meadows of the valley, to locate them. 
The region covered in my investigation, coveted an area of 
36 miles long by from 5 to 10 miles wide, or about ISO square 
miles. 
Ten pairs of Sandhill Cranes were nesting in this territory, 
which would mean about one pair of birds to every 18 square 
miles of territory. 
Warner Valley has some half dozen lakes, surrounded by 
tules and flags, and wild meadow lands, all of which is cov- 
ered with water, but here and there small islands were found, 
which were always above high water. 
The places selected for the nest of this Crane were generally 
several miles out in the marshes, and the nests located were all 
on the top of large masses of dried tules and flags, and grass, 
which had undoubtedly been piled up in this manner the year 
previous in harvesting the hay crop. 
These masses were generally 5 feet in diameter and at least 
12 inches above high water mark, and in the center a slight de- 
pression is made upon which the two eggs or young are found. 
The nesting dates are from May 20 to June 10. Eggs found 
May 30 were about half incubated. 
A nest of young found on June 6, containing two young, 
which were about ten days old, were very spry, but did not seem 
much alarmed at being handled. They posed readily for the 
camera and several fine views were secured. 
Tlie young at this time were covered mostly with down and 
were a beautiful silky brown in color, and were just begin- 
ning to show the formation of feathers. 
