62 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



the cause of this noble bird's extinction in our 

 islands ? Probably a potent cause was the drainage 

 of its marsh and fenland haunts. We know that 

 the eggs and nestlings of the Crane were protected 

 by law ; but perhaps these steps may have been 

 taken when the bird was already fast vanishing 

 from the land : however, the fact that the parent 

 birds were not included rendered any such provi- 

 sion futile in the extreme. In any case, we well 

 know that legal protection of such a character was 

 unable to save the bird from extinction; and we 

 should feel disposed to attribute its disappearance 

 as a breeding species to the destruction of its 

 nesting haunts and to the killing of the old birds 

 during the breeding season, whilst undue persecu- 

 tion may have also assisted in reducing the numbers 

 of the birds that came into our area for the winter 

 only. A bird so large and conspicuous, such a 

 noble prize, would be sure to be unduly harassed 

 by the fowler ; and as the favourite haunts became 

 smaller and more accessible to man, in spite of its 

 wariness the poor Crane would dwindle in numbers, 

 winter after winter, until all were gone. The 

 worst of it is, in this case, too, the Crane is absolutely 

 lost to us, it can never be reinstated into our fauna ; 

 the odd birds that visit us are abnormal migrants. 



