THE CRANE 6i 



the British area towards the close of the twelfth 

 century, continuing to do so through the three 

 following centuries, and finally ceasing by the end 

 of the sixteenth century. Simultaneously the 

 extermination of the Cranes that visited these 

 islands exclusively for the winter appears to have 

 been in progress. As might naturally be expected, 

 the indigenous or breeding birds were the first to 

 go ; and there is evidence to show that the Crane 

 still continued to visit the fens for the winter long 

 after it had ceased to breed within our limits. 

 During the latter half of the seventeenth century 

 the Crane was only known to Willughby and Ray 

 as a winter visitor in large flocks to the Lincoln- 

 shire and Cambridgeshire fens ; but these must 

 have become exterminated early in the eighteenth 

 century, for in 1768 Pennant informs us that the 

 bird was quite unknown in those counties. From 

 that time to the present the Crane can only be 

 regarded as an irregular and abnormal visitor on 

 migration to various parts of the British Islands, 

 sometimes occurring in exceptional numbers, as in 

 the year 1869, and drawn here, we may rest assured, 

 by no nostalgic impulse, but driven to our island 

 shores by the exigencies of their annual journeys 

 to destinations far remote from them. What was 



