CRANES 
171 
situated usually in the middle of a wide, wet, marshy slough, a 6-foot 
platform of reeds where the two downy red youngsters are hatched, under 
the solicitous attentions of both parents, for they make an ideal pair, 
sharing the household duties and responsibilities and probably mating for 
life. Throughout the summer, groups of unattached, non-breeding birds 
cruise about from slough to slough; pass the nights on mud-bars far out 
in the lakes and, mornings and evenings, their trumpeting flocks can be 
heard as they pass over or back. These flocks are probably composed of 
juveniles not ready to breed, or of adults that have lost their mates and 
have not paired again. They show remarkable attachment to certain 
localities and a single old bird will return year after year to its old home 
grounds, calling and trumpeting to others passing over, associating with 
visiting migrants as they pause on their way, but returning to its own 
lonely grounds again when they continue their journey. 
In late summer, when the old birds and the season’s young gather in 
flocks, together with migrant Lesser Sandhill Cranes, they frequent the 
grain fields and, occasionally when in great numbers, do considerable 
damage to the stocks. How much of the damage should be attributed to 
the Lesser Sandhill Crane it is difficult to estimate, probably the greater 
part, because the Greater Sandhill is becoming regularly scarcer every 
year as advancing cultivation and attendant dangers are encroaching on 
and rendering its old breeding grounds untenable. Cranes are protected 
now throughout the year, but, unless the legal fiat is assisted by general 
public opinion, the sandhill is doomed to extinction. At present Saskat- 
chewan is the only province where cranes are seen in anything like their 
former number, but it is believed that the majority of these are not resident 
but are smaller migrants from the north. 
These two cranes have long been locally known throughout the west as 
“Turkeys.” To see one in the specimen arouses wonder that a long-legged 
wader should ever have been confused with our well-known table-bird; 
but in life the resemblance is not so remote as might be imagined. The 
red face resembles the red wattled head of the turkey and it is interesting 
to note that another bird, the Turkey Vulture, has evidently been associ- 
ated with the same species for a similar reason. In feeding, the crane 
carries its body low and its head down as it works over a field, when, with 
its long legs partly hidden in the grass and vegetation, it has considerable 
resemblance to the turkey. 
FAMILY ltALLIDAE. RAIL-LIKE BIRDS 
General Description. Toes long and slender to cover a large area of soft, uncertain 
footing. The pedal characters are somewhat like those of the shore birds, but the hind 
toe is long, as well developed as the others, and inserted on a level with them instead of 
being slightly elevated (Figure 244, compare with Figure 290, page 202). In this respect 
they resemble the herons, but may be distinguished from them by their un-heron-like 
build and their feathered lores. In one species, the coot (Figure 249, page 175), the toes 
are edged with scalloped flaps. 
They are typical marsh birds, skulking in the long grass and reeds, 
running swiftly over yielding masses of half-floating vegetation, and 
preferring to hide rather than fly at the approach of danger. They all 
swim, habitually or on occasion. The family is divided into three sub- 
families: Rallinae, the true rails; ( allinulinae, Gallinules or Mud-Hens; 
and Fulicinae , Coots. 
