THE CRANE 65 



long neck and legs fully extended. The note is 

 loud, clear, and trumpet-like, capable of being heard 

 for immense distances. The Crane is for the most 

 part a vegetarian, subsisting on grain of all kinds, 

 grass, buds and leaves of water plants, acorns, and 

 other seeds ; its animal diet includes frogs, lizards, 

 insects, and small fish, A flock of these birds, when 

 feeding or resting, station sentinels to warn them 

 of approaching danger. The Crane is rather an 

 early breeder, the eggs being laid in the more 

 southern localities in April, a month or so later in 

 the far north. The huge bulky nest is placed upon 

 the ground or in the shallow water in the least 

 accessible part of the swamps and morasses ; and as 

 the birds are in the habit of returning annually to 

 the same localities to breed, they probably pair for 

 life. The nest, which is from two to five feet across, 

 is made of heather, branches, sedges, and rushes, and 

 lined with grass. The eggs are usually two, some- 

 times three in number, brownish or greenish buff 

 in ground colour, blotched and spotted with reddish 

 brown, pale brown, and grey. The female incu- 

 bates them, and the young birds — clothed in huffish 

 down — are able to run almost at once. The young 

 and their parents remain in company until the 

 migration period approaches, when these family 

 5 



