SAEUS CEANE 117 



The kora, as this bird is generally called, is widely distributed 

 with us, but although it ranges as far north as Japan outside our 

 area, it keeps in our Empire to the warmer districts ; it is a 

 thorough marsh-bird, but seems to be rare in some localities 

 where it was formerly common, for Bengal was credited with 

 harbouring plenty of the species, and yet I never saw half a 

 dozen specimens during the whole time I was in Calcutta. The 

 kora is quite a good table-bird, so that if it is getting scarce this 

 is a pity ; but being nocturnal, it is not likely to come under 

 notice in the same way that the diurnal coot and moorhen do. 



The breeding-season is during the rains, and the eggs are 

 greyish-buff with mauve and chocolate spots ; the nest is among 

 aquatic herbage. Besides Kora, Kengra is Hindustani name for 

 this bird ; in Ceylon it is called WiUikuJculu, Kettala, or Tannir- 

 koli, while the Burmese name is Boiin-dote. Its familiarity to 

 natives is no doubt due to the fact that in some districts of the 

 North-east it is reared by hand and kept as a fighting bird. 



Sarus Crane. 



Grus antigone. Sarus, Hindustani. 



Hume quite rightly says that this bird is not properly a 

 game bird at all, but simply comes in as a relative of the cranes 

 which may be so reckoned ; and this is just as well, for it is one 

 of the most conspicuous and ornamental birds in the country. 

 A " common object of the wayside " to the traveller by rail, its 

 tall grey figure, about five feet high, surmounted by the bare 

 scarlet head, cannot escape observation. Almost invariably a 

 pair are seen together, and the hen can be distinguished by being 

 about a head shorter than her mate, who is about five feet long, 

 and stands about as high ; for being a bird of very erect carriage 

 the sarus looks all its size, and appears to be the biggest bird in 

 India, though the great bald adjutant stork {Leptoptllus duhius) 

 exceeds it in measurements, and the great bustard, no doubt, 

 in weight. 



It is worth noting that the neck in this species, just below 



