23 
chiefly, but not exclusively, west of the Mississippi, south to Mexico and eastwards along the coasts of Florida and 
Georgia, to Cuba. I may add that it is now rare along the Atlantic coast, north of Georgia and Florida, although it 
was numerous there in early colonial days ^). It seems to wander occasionally into eastern Siberia, where it has been 
recorded by Taczanowski, whilst Temminck in his ‘Fauna Japonica’ described and figured a specimen from Japan — now 
in the Leiden Museum — under the name of Grus cinerea longirostris. 
The breeding-range of this bird extends all over northern North America, from the Arctic Sea and Alaska to the 
Dominion of Canada, including Baffin’s Land, except the country east of Fludson’s Baj^ where I find no account of its 
occurrence. It also breeds in Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, in which last State it was observed in 
July by Major Long. Further south it has been found breeding in Florida and Cuba, where it is said to be resident, 
and it seems to nest occasionally in Southern Texas as Mr. Dresser was informed. To the rvest of the Rocky Mountains 
Dr. Cooper mentions it is a summer resident in Washington Territory, and Capt. Bendire found it a common breeding 
bird as well in the low lands as in the highest mountain-valleys of Oregon. A few pairs are reported to breed near 
Mormon Lake in Utah, also in California on the high mountain meadows. In former days it seems to have bred in 
Pennsylvania (Vieill. Nouv. Diet. XII, p. 558, (1817)). 
The result of these observations is that the 40th parallel seems to form about the southern limit of the regular 
breeding range of the Canadian Crane, whilst their breeding in Cuba and Florida must be regarded as more or less 
abnormal, in the same way as is the breeding of Grtis cinerea in some parts of Southern Europe. 
In Arctic America these Cranes breed about the middle of the month of June. The further they go to the south 
the more this date is anticipated. Capt. Blakiston found them breeding in the beginning of May in the Saskatchewan plains, 
whilst in Cuba and Florida the end of Januari or February is the beginning of the breeding season. 
According to circumstances, the eggs, which are usually two in number, are either deposited in a slight depression 
on a sandy beach without any lining (as was the case for instance with those found by Dall and Bannister on the Yukon 
River, Alaska), or in a depression thickly lined with dry grasses, as recorded by Macfarlane (Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. XIX. 
p. 425, 1891). If, however, the nest is made in swampy ground, or even in shallow water, a considerable heap of 
material consisting of aquatic plants is raised by the parent birds. On the top of this heap a depression is formed, which 
is carefully lined with fine dry grasses, so that the eggs may be well out of the water. 
Mr. Moore describes a nest of the last description which he observed in Florida as follows. — “In one instance a 
“large mass of aquatic plants was heaped up, constituting a nest which, when found on the 2nd March, was six or eight 
“inches above the water in its highest parts. It was about a hundred yards from dry ground in the midst of mud and 
“water and 200 yards from a travelled road and in full view. The sitting bird had lowered her head and so remained 
“until I was within sixty yards, when she flew off and dropped down among some plants not very far off. The male 
“soon appeared and continued to fly around but did not come near. The nest contained two eggs.” 
Although generally selecting low grounds in which they can find marshes and thin woods for their nesting places 
these Cranes occasionally resort to high mountain-valleys and alpine meadows for the same purpose. Thus for example in 
South East Oregon and in California they were found nesting in such places by Capt. Bendire and by Dr. Newberry. 
The female is supposed to incubate, and to be only^ watched by the male, but, as in the case of all the Cranes 
that I have observed during the breeding-period both sexes incubate, I suppose it will be the same with the present 
species. After an incubation of about thirty days, the two downy young are born and are very carefully led about by the 
parents, who feed them from their bills with worms and small insects. It is said that if the young are pursued before they 
can fly, the parents try to draw off the attention of the pursuer whilst the young squat and hide away under a scrub. 
If the young are caught, the old birds do not venture to attack the offender but utter a peculiar note of alarm {Moore). 
The young are easily reared by hand, and are often kept as pets by the Indians. They live with their parents until 
they are a year old, after which time they have to look after themselves. 
The Canadian Cranes leave their breeding-quarters in Arctic America at the end of August and the beginning of 
September, and travel southwards in large flocks chiefly by night and often in company with the American Crane. One 
of the principal routes seems to be the valley of the Mississippi, down which they travel through Texas into Mexico to 
pass the winter. A second route is along the Rio Grande the course of which they may be seen to follow every autumn, as 
is recorded by H. W. Henshaw, whilst the most western route is across Oregon and California between the Rocky 
Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, along the Rio Colorado. Here Dr. Newberry observed their first arrivals in September. 
“They came in thousands, flock succeeding flock, flying along the course of the river in Indian file. He further remarks 
“that each bird keeps Its place in this long line, and that the whole column falls or rises according to the security the 
“ground passed over seems to give. Swaying to the right and left, the whole line in the hazy distance becomes like an 
i) Brewster, Auk. VII, p. 89. 
