522 CRANE. 



On the spring-passage this species sometimes visits the Fseroes, 

 and it wanders to the north-east of Norway, while it breeds in the 

 morasses in the south of that country, as well as in Sweden, Lap- 

 land, Finland, Russia (down to the Black Sea), Poland (especially 

 on the Vistula), Northern Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Danubian 

 Provinces, Turkey, Italy (Venetia), and Spain (Andalucia). Its 

 loud trumpet-like note may be heard over the greater part of Europe 

 from the beginning of March onward, announcing its return from 

 the south and Africa, in which its winter range extends to Abyssinia. 

 In December 1892, the Khalifa handed to his captive, Slatin Pasha, 

 a capsule taken from the neck of a Crane killed in the Sudan, 

 containing a statement that this bird had been bred and liberated 

 on a specified estate in South Russia. Eastward the Crane can be 

 traced across Asia up to lat. 65" N. in summer, and to Japan, China, 

 Northern India tS:c. during the cold season ; Prjevalski, when at an 

 elevation of 16,000 feet, observed flock after flock crossing the lofty 

 ranges of Central Asia on migration, at such an enormous altitude 

 above him that the birds themselves were scarcely visible ! 



The nest is placed on slightly raised ground in a marsh, and the 

 eggs, usually 2, though occasionally 3 in number, are of an olive- 

 grey colour, blotched with reddish-brown: measurements 3 '8 by 

 2*6 in. They are laid towards the end of April in Spain, but in 

 Lapland Wolley did not find them till a month later. The food 

 consists of grass, grain, pulse, acorns, the tubers of the sweet 

 potato, water-melons &c., with beetles and other insects in winter ; 

 while I have seen a Crane in captivity capture and swallow a Sparrow. 



The adult has a red warty patch on the crown ; general plumage 

 slate-grey ; inner secondaries long, drooping, and bluish-black in 

 colour. Length 45 in. ; wing 21 in. The male is larger and rather 

 darker than the female. The young have no red on the head ; the 

 upper plumage is greyish-brown, and the hind plumes are short. 

 Breeding does not take place till the third year. 



A male example of the Demoiselle Crane, Griis 7'irgfl, is said to 

 have been shot at Deerness, East Mainland, Orkney, on May 14th 

 1863, a companion bird being pursued, but not obtained (Zool. 

 p. 8692). This inhabitant of Africa, Asia, and the south of Europe, 

 has wandered as far north as Sweden and Heligoland ; it is also 

 frequently kept in confinement. An African Crowned Crane, 

 Bakarica pavofiina, was mobbed to death by the populace on the 

 Sabbath-day, September 17th 187 1, near Dairy in Ayrshire. 



