DEMOISELLE CEANE 129 



Mr. R. Coso;rave, in some interesting notes on the cranes at 

 Lilford Hall in the AviciUtural Magazine, says that the white 

 cranes kept there are miserable in heat and rejoice in cold ; 

 and, though this is not the case with the Zoo birds, which 

 always behave and look much the same, it is quite possible that, 

 as he suggests, the climate accounts for the infertility of the 

 eggs so far produced in England. 



Demoiselle Crane. 



Aiithropoides virgo. Karkarra, Hindustani. 



The demoiselle crane is the smallest species found, not only 

 in India, but anywhere ; it is not quite a yard long, and so 

 would be more likely to be mistaken for the grey heron than 

 is the common crane, were it not that the adults have their 

 grey plumage strikingly set off by the black face, neck and 

 breast, and long white plumes drooping from the cheeks ; 

 while in the case of the young, which have only black on 

 the neck, and but a little there, and the "kiss-curls" only 

 just indicated, the shorter beak and neck outstretched in flight 

 are sufficient distinctions. 



Moreover, demoiselle cranes are, even more than the common 

 crane, likely to be found ni flocks ; they are extremely sociable, 

 and some of their assemblages are enormous. Captain E. A. 

 Butler says : " I have seen tanks fringed with a blue margin of 

 these birds at least sixty yards wide, and extending over several 

 acres of ground, over and over again." This was in Guzerat, 

 and here, as well as in Kathiawar and the Deccan, are the bird's 

 headquarters during its stay with us, for it is only a winter 

 visitor, generally leaving in March, but sometimes waiting till 

 May ; the month for arrival is October. Besides the pro- 

 vinces named, the demoiselle also visits North-western India 

 generally, and penetrates as far as Mysore in the Peninsula ; 

 but in Lower Bengal and the countries to the eastward it is not 

 found, though occurring in Chma in the winter, and in the end 

 of the Peninsula is a rarity, while it does not reach Ceylon. It 

 is called Kullimi in the Deccan, but wrongly, as this name 

 seems to apply properly to the common crane or coolung, unless 

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