HOODED CEANE 125 



says the birds did not forget, but some time after were seen 

 circling and calling over a market-place in which the robbers 

 were at the time. One conscience-strack rnffian cried out to his 

 friend, " There are the avengers of Ibycus," and thus betraying 

 his secret, brought justice on the whole gang. 



Hanging practically all over Europe, though chietly breeding in 

 the north — including England once — this great bird has naturally 

 left a very marked impression in literature; it breeds all across 

 northern Asia also, and winters in China as well as India. No 

 nest has ever been found in our limits ; the eggs and young are 

 much like those of the sarus, but smaller. 



The native name Kullimg is generally used also by Europeans ; 

 a slight variant is the Deccani Kidlam, and Kooroonch is another 

 Hindustani name ; in Manipur the name is Wainu. 



Hooded Crane. 



Gnis vionachus. Nabezuru, Japanese. 



This very rare visitant is distinguished from all our other 

 cranes by the complete and conspicuous whiteness of its head 

 and neck, contrasting strikingly with the body, this being of a 

 darker grey than that seen in any of our other cranes. In form 

 and in having a bald red patch on the head, it resembles the 

 common crane or coolung, but is a little smaller in size, not 

 exceeding a yard in length. Young birds have the grey of a 

 brownish cast, owing to the feathers being edged with brown. 



The only record of the occurrence of this bird, which ranges, 

 according to season, from eastern Mongolia and Siberia to 

 Corea and China — sometimes also to Japan — is one by Mr. 

 E. C. Stuart Baker, in one of his articles on the " Birds of North 

 Cachar," pubHshed in volume xii of the Journal of the Bombay 

 Natural History Society, under the name of "King" crane 

 {Grus monarchus). No such species exists, but he evidently 

 meant the present bird. He says : "In December of 1889, 

 whilst fishing in the Mahar River, seven huge cranes flapped 

 overhead down the stream and settled in a shallow pool some 

 four hundred yards away. They at once struck me as being 



