The Sandhill Cranes 
No. 301 
Little Brown Crane 
A. O. U. No. 205. Grus canadensis canadensis (Linnaeus). 
Synonyms.— Northern Brown Crane. Little Sandhill Crane. Canadian 
Crane. 
Description. — Adult: General plumage slaty gray (unmixed in the rarely-seen, 
fully-mature birds, but usually) more or less washed especially on back and scapulars, 
with ochraceous or rusty,—this rusty sometimes abruptly confined to scattered single 
feathers; throat and sides of head paling to whitish; alula and wing-quills blackish, the 
shafts of primaries white; top of head to below eye bare, dull red, the skin minutely 
warty, and with some short, bristly black hairs. Bill, feet and legs black. Immature: 
Head entirely or decreasingly feathered; plumage heavily washed with brownish and 
overlaid or invaded by rusty, especially above,—this color clear but evanescent on 
crown, most persistent on wing-coverts. Length of adult about 889 (35.00); wing 
482.6 (19.00); tail 190.5 (7.50); bill 96 (3.78); depth at nostril (rear) 18.8 (.74); tarsus 
194 (7.64); middle toe and claw 85.1 (3.35). 
Recognition Marks. —Eagle size; slaty gray or brownish color; elongated pro¬ 
portions of bill, neck, and tarsus; smaller than next form. 
Nesting. —Does not breed in California. Nest: On drier portion of grass}' flat, 
a shallow platform of weed-stems and dried grasses. Eggs: 2; light greenish clay- 
color to light olive-brown or avellaneous, marked rather obscurely with dull reddish 
brown and brownish drab. Av. size 94 x 61 (3.70 x 2.40). Season: c. June 1st. 
Range of Grus canadensis. —North America, breeding from Alaska and Arctic 
islands south to Florida and Louisiana; wintering south to Mexico. 
Range of G. c. canadensis. — Breeds from northern Alaska and the Arctic coast 
south to the mouth of the Yukon, southern Mackenzie, and central Keewatin (but 
southern limits imperfectly defined as between canadensis and mexicanus). Migrates 
chiefly through the interior, and winters south to California, Texas, and Jalisco. 
Occurrence in California. —Imperfectly distinguished from that of following 
form. Probably much the commoner bird during migrations, practically throughout 
the State. Winters sparingly in the San Joaquin Valley. 
Authorities.—A. K. Fisher ( Grus canadensis), N. Amer. Fauna, no. 7, 1893, 
p. 20 (Ash Meadows, Nevada-California boundary line); Grinnell, Condor, vol. xi., 
1909, p. 128 (occurrence in s. Calif.); J. Mailliard, Condor, vol. xiii., 1911, p. 50 (Los 
Banos; measurements); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bull. no. 128, 1914, p. 7, map (distr. 
and migr.); Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, Game Birds Calif., 1918, p. 273 (desc. occur., 
habits). 
SPRINGTIME in California is like the gradual unfolding of a flower, 
a little more perfect each day. In the East it is either a gift or a conquest, 
a tropical favor or a disheveled bouquet, a something to be striven for, 
now flung in lush promise at the feet of expectant humanity, or sud¬ 
denly snatched away again, according as Boreas or Flora wins each swiftly 
succeeding bout. In the West it is not so; and there be those of us who 
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