NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTPT AFRICA 



Blue Crane, or Stanley Crane. 



(Tetrapteryx paradisea.) 



Diet. — Various aquatic creatures, insects and their larvae, 

 seeds, and grain. These cranes may be seen in pairs, or a pair 

 and the last season's young, seeking food in swamps, shallows, 

 or out on the dry veld. They are very fond of grasshoppers 

 and locusts. The blue or Stanley crane occasionally invades 

 cultivated lands and feeds on grain. They, however, prefer an 

 insect diet supplemented by tender shoots of grasses, weeds, etc. 

 At the Port Elizabeth Museum a pair keep the extensive grounds 

 free of insects and the destructive garden snail (Helix adspersa). 



Crowned Crane. 

 Kafir Crane, or Mahem. 



{Balearic a regulorum.) 



Diet. — Same as that of the blue crane. 



The Bustard. 

 Otherwise known as Knorhaan and Paauw. 



(Genus — Otis.) 



Diet. — The bustards inhabit the open veld, bush-veld, or 

 forest country, according to the species. They are all insect 

 feeders, and the services they render to man in this connection 

 are far-reaching. The insect diet is supplemented by soft 

 shoots, leaves, and seeds. They are in the fore-rank of birds of 

 economic value, yet strange as it may seem, they are shot for 

 sport and the pot. It is nothing short of crime to our fellows 

 and posterity to shoot these birds which serve us so well and so 

 faithfully. Grasshoppers, locusts, and all forms of grass and 

 shrub-destroying insect pests are devoured by bustards. All the 

 bustard genus should be strictly protected all the year round, and 

 those who shoot them off on their farms are very short-sighted 

 and foolish. 



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