CRANE. 103 



wing of the standing bird. The food consists of worms, 

 crustaceans, and molluscs, picked up in the tip of the bill and 

 swallowed with a single upward jerk, or probed for in the mud. 

 The note, seldon] heard, is a guttural croak. 



The adult bird in summer is dark maroon on head, neck, 

 back, and under parts ; the head is burnished green, and the 

 blackish wings are glossed with green and purple. The bill, 

 five or six inches long, is brown, and on the lores and round the 

 brown eye the skin is green ; the legs are greenish grey. The 

 female is smaller than the male, but there is much variation in 

 size in both sexes. The winter dress is duller, and that of the 

 young i)ird brown and barely glossed, whilst on the head and 

 neck are greyish-white streaks and mottles. Length, 22 ins. 

 Wing, 1 175 ins. Tarsus, 4 ins. 



Order GRUIFORMES. 



Family GRUID.^. Cranes. 

 Tall birds with long, straight bills ; hind toe elevated. 



Crane. Alegaloniis grus (Linn.). 



The tall and graceful Crane (Plate 41) is a lost British bird, 

 but so long lost that we cannot tell why it deserted its ancient 

 home. It nests in Europe and western Asia, and in winter 

 travels as far south as Nyassaland ; in Britain, where it bred 

 in the sixteenth century, it is now a rare passage migrant, but 

 so many birds are kept in private parks that all recent occur- 

 rences are suspicious. How regularly migrating parties pass 

 we do not know, for the Crane is known to travel at a great 

 height, far above the range of vision. Laws passed in the six- 

 teenth century failed to preserve it, but as its visits appear to 

 be growing less frequent, we may believe that some factor 

 other than persecution is responsible for the decrease. 



