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Note on the Little Brown Crane {Grus fraterculus, Cassin). — 
The small Brown Crane, described by Professor Baird in 1858 (P. R. R. 
Rep., IX, p. 656) as “ Grus fraterculus, Cassin,” appears to have been 
known thus far only from the single specimen collected at Albuquerque, 
New Mexico, by H. B. Mdllhausen, in October, 1853. It therefore gives 
me pleasure to announce the capture of a second specimen by Dr. Edward 
Palmer, at the Hacienda Angostura, Rio Verde, Mexico, February 23, 
1879, recently received at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. This 
specimen agrees in all essential points with the description of the type of 
the species ; it is, however, slightly larger, and more nearly adult. As 
this species has been considered (see Coues’s Key to North American 
Birds, p. 271 ; Ilenshaw, Rep. Geog. and Geol. Sur. W. 100th Merid., V, 
Zool., p. 467) as the young of G. canadensis, a brief comparison of the 
two forms may not be out of place. In general size G. fraterculus appears 
to be fully one third smaller than G. canadensis, and is about one fourth 
to one third less in linear measurements (the wing excepted), with the bill 
relatively much shorter and smaller, as shown by the following measure- 
ments, those given for G. canadensis being the average dimensions (in 
inches and hundredths) of a considerable series. 
Bill. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tarsus. 
Mid.Toe. 
Culmen. 
Comm. 
Height. 
G. canadensis, 
22.00 
9.00 
9.50 
4.10 
5.60 
5.75 
1.15 
G. fraterculus, 
( *17.50 
6.80 
7.50 
3.36 
3.04 
3.16 
.74 
\ f 18.00 
6.90 
6.70 
2.95 
3.30 
3.65 
.80 
The only differences of moment between the two examples here referred 
to G. fraterculus is the somewhat greater length of the tarsus and middle 
toe, and the rather shorter and smaller bill of the Albuquerque specimen. 
The chief difference in coloration between the two species consists 
in the crown and occipital region being reddish in both specimens of 
G. fraterculus, instead of ashy as in G. canadensis, and in the color of the 
wings. In G. canadensis the edge of the wing and the primaries are 
plumbeous brown, scarcely darker than the general color, with the shafts 
of the primaries white. In G. fraterculus the alula, edge of the wing, and 
the primaries are decidedly black, while the shafts of the primaries are 
intense shining black. The naked portion of the head is fully one third 
less in G. fraterculus than in the other, the feathered portion extending 
forward centrally as far as the middle of the orbits, instead of ending far 
behind them. 
Dr. Palmer’s specimen appears to be nearly adult, or to have at least 
nearly completed its first moult, there being only here and there a 
brownish-tipped feather indicative of immaturity. It is certainly mature 
so far as size is concerned, as the date of capture (February 23) would 
alone sufficiently indicate. 
Dr. Palmer’s note accompanying the specimen gives the species as a 
“ winter resident ” at the locality where it was taken. Whether the 
species is of frequent occurrence within the United States remains to be 
determined ; yet, if at all common, it seems strange that it should have 
escaped the notice of the recent collectors, who have so thoroughly ex- 
plored Southern Texas, Southern New Mexico, and the adjoining portions 
of Arizona, but less so when we take into account the difficulty of capture 
of these wary birds, and the fact that, if seen merely at a distance, the 
species might easily be mistaken for the larger G. canadensis, and its ac- 
quisition not considered of special importance. — J. A. Allen, Cambridge, 
Mass. 
* Measurements of the original specimen (S. I., No. 10,378), from Baird, 
t Dr. Palmer’s specimen (M. C. Z., No. 26,656), “female.” 
Bull N. O.O. 5 .April, I860, p, /Z3~ U / ■ 
!S7 
