THE SARUS 



HAVING discoursed upon the adjutant, it 

 seems but fitting that we should turn our 

 attention to another long-shanked gentle- 

 man — the sarus. The adjutant is, as we 

 have seen, a stork, while the sarus is a crane. I do not 

 know whether this conveys very much information 

 to the average mind. Most people will, I imagine, 

 " give it up " if asked, *' What is the difference between 

 a stork and a crane ? " Yet there are considerable dif- 

 ferences between the two ; they belong to different 

 families, and, like rival tradesmen of the same name, 

 " have no connection with one another." I do not pro- 

 pose to detail the anatomical differences between storks 

 and cranes, for the excellent reason that I myself do 

 not know them all, nor have I the least intention of 

 acquiring such knowledge. It forms part of the dry 

 bones of science, and these are best left to museum 

 ornithologists to squabble over. There are, however, 

 one or two simple points which suffice to enable us to 

 distinguish at a glance a crane from a stork. The hind 

 toe of the stork is well developed, while that of the 

 crane is small and does not touch the ground ; the con- 

 sequence is that the stork likes to rest on trees, while 

 the crane prefers to stand on terra jirma on its flat feet. 

 35 



