Just received a fine Little Brown Crane ( Grus cana- 
densis , ), killed Wednesday, Oct. 9th, at Natick, Rhode 
Island. J. M. Southwick. 
O.&O. XIV. Oct. I860 p. \td 
The Little Brown Crane ( Grus canadensis) in Rhode Island. — -Under 
date of Oct. 14, 1889, Mr. F. T. Jencks writes me : “I saw today at Mr. J. 
M. Southwick’s natural history store in Providence a finely mounted speci- 
men of the Little Brown Crane ( Grus canadensis) which Mr. Southwick 
informed me was shot the 8th or 9th of October by Benjamin Burlingame, 
at Natick Hill, Rhode Island.” 
I have since learned from Mr. Southwick that the bird belongs to the 
Superintendent of Public Schools at Natick where it will be preserved in 
an educational collection. As far as I am aware this species has never 
previously been reported from any part of New England, although the 
Whooping and Sandhill Cranes are supposed to have occurred rather 
numerously in the early colonial days. — William Brewster, Cambridge , 
Mass. AttkjVll. p. -89. 
The Llttle Brown Crane ( Grus fraterculus, Cassin). — It had not 
occurred to me, until Mr. Allen’s note in the last number of the Bulletin 
called my attention to the matter, that this species still rested solely upon 
the original description in « Birds of North America,” so far as general 
knowledge of it was concerned, else I might sooner have announced the 
fact that the National Museum had received numerous specimens of it, 
chiefly from Arctic America, where it is abundant, and where it seems to 
entirely replace G. canadensis. Indeed, it is probable that all far-northern 
citations of the latter refer to fraterculus. Many specimens have been 
received from various parts of Alaska, — from Kadiak (Bischoff), from 
St. Michael’s (Messrs. Dali and Bannister, Turner, and Nelson), — as 
well as from the Upper Yukon, Franklin Bay, and Anderson River, by 
McFarlane, who, as well as other officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 
have sent us many of its eggs. 
Notwithstanding its perfect resemblance to G. canadensis in everythin* 
except size and proportions, (the supposed differences in coloration, etc° 
pointed out by Mr. Allen do not hold good in a large series,) I fully coin- 
cide with Mr. Allen in his view that G. fraterculus is a distinct species, 
since, among numerous specimens of the two which I have examined, I 
have been unable to discover any indications of intergradation, the ex- 
treme measurements of the two being, respectively, as follows, only adults 
being measured : — 
G. canadensis. Wing, 22.00 ; culmen, 5.00 - 6.00 ; tarsus, 9.50 - 10.00 • 
middle toe, 3.50-4.10. 
G. fraterculus. Wing, 17.75-19.00; culmen, 2.90-3.70; tarsus, 6.70 
- 8.00 ; middle toe, 2.80-2.95. 
In the shape and extent of the naked patch on the head there is much 
variation m both species, and I have not been able to discover any difl'er- 
ence that is constant between them in this respect. As a rule, however, 
and I believe constantly in fully mature specimens, G. fraterculus is of a 
decidedly more bluish cinereous than G. canadensis. 
Below are given the principal references to this species, including some 
of doubtful applicability. 
Grus fraterculus, Cassin. — Little Brown Crane. 
0)Ardea canadensis, Forst., Phil. Trams., LXn, 1772,409 (Severn 
R.). — Sabine, Franklin’s .Tour., 1823, 685. — Richardson, Parry’s 2d 
Toy., 1825, 353. — Sw. & Rich., F. B. A., II, 1831, 373 (“North to the 
shores of the Arctic Ocean ”). — Scl., P. Z. S., 1860, 418 (Hudson’s 
Bay). — Blakist., Ibis, V, 1863, 128 (int. Brit. Am.). 
Grus canadensis , Dall & Bann., Trans. Chicago Ac., I, 1869, 289 (St. 
Michael’s, Alaska). — (?) Taczan., Jour, fur Orn., 1873, 112 (N. E. Si- 
beria). 
(?) Blue Crane, Forst., 1. c. 
(?) Brown Crane, Penn., Arct. Zool., H, 1785, 443. — Lath., Synop 
111, 1785, 43. ’ J 
Grus fraterculus, Cass., in Baird’s B. N. Am., 1858, 656 (= juv. ; 
New Mexico); ed. 1860, pi. — . — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B., 1859, no. 
480. — Allen, Bull. N. O. C., April, 1880, 123 (Rio Verde, Mexico!) — 
R. Ridgway, Washington, TJ. B<all N.O.O. 5, July, 1880, p ,/t7-/fg. 
