118 INDIAN SPOKTING BIRDS 



the bare scarlet part, becomes white in the breeding season, and 

 the long wing-plumes also get whiter then ; for the existence of 

 this white in the plumage, and the general paler tone of the same, 

 are the chief distinctions between the Indian and Burmese types 

 of this crane. The sarus (often miscalled cyrus !) is practically 

 purely an Indian bird, and is not known to occur in Transcaspia 

 and Persia, though, curiously enough, sometimes turning up in 

 Russia. Even in India it is far from being universally distri- 

 buted, for it does not range into the hills, except in Nepal, 

 where, according to Hume, it has been introduced. Nor does it 

 occur in Mysore or any district south of this, while it is rare in 

 Sind. In the open country of northern India it is well known 

 in all well-watered districts, and rather prefers cultivated land ; 

 it is extraordinarily tame for such a large bird, but this is due to 

 the fact that it is very rarely molested ; its flesh is not esteemed, 

 although the liver is good, and natives do not like its being shot, 

 as they admire it, although not considering it at all sacred. 



In case there is any real reason to kill so harmless and 

 beautiful a bird, the pair should both fall together, for there is 

 told about this bird the same tale that is related of the little 

 parrots known as " love-birds," that if one is killed the survivor 

 dies of grief. Love-birds do not always do this, nor does the 

 sarus ; generally, as Hume says, after haunting the scene of its 

 bereavement for some days or even weeks, and calling continually, 

 it disappears, " and," he says, " it is to be hoped, finds a new mate, 

 but on two occasions I have actually known the widowed bird 

 to pine away and die : in the one case my dogs caught the bird 

 in a field where it had retreated to die, literally starved to death ; 

 in the other the bird disappeared, and a few days later we found 

 the feathers in a field where it had obviously fallen a prey to 

 jackals." No doubt, many birds having pined till they cannot 

 recover, fall victims in this way ; a healthy sarus has httle to 

 fear from vermin, at any rate if there is water in which it can 

 more readily stand on its defence. Dogs are easily beaten oft' 

 from the great nest, which is a sort of artificial island in many 

 cases, built up on a rise in the bottom of some bit of water, 

 where half a foot to two feet of foundation may have to be laid 

 before the nest rises above water, though, of course, actual islets 



