198 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



grey. The tail feathers are paler than the rest of the 

 plumage, being almost white in some individuals. 

 There is a broad red band round the neck and the 

 lower part of the head. This at the breeding season 

 becomes very brilliant, and then looks like a broad 

 collar of crimson velvet. The legs of the sarus are 

 also bright red and are nearly a yard long. So that 

 the sarus can, when he wishes to assert himself, 

 look over the head of the average human being with- 

 out unduly stretching his neck. 



The sarus is the only crane that stays in India 

 throughout the year. As has already been said, 

 the species is very common in Northern India ; in- 

 deed, a broad stretch of landscape in that part of 

 the world would not seem true to life did it not con- 

 tain a pair of saruses standing near together. Every 

 pair of these birds is a regular Darby and Joan. There 

 are instances on record of a sarus having pined away 

 and died because it had lost its mate. This affection 

 of the male and female who pair for life is so notorious 

 that the Indians who eat the flesh of these birds make 

 a point, after they have bagged one of a pair, of killing 

 the mate. 



The food of saruses is, as Hume remarks, very 

 varied. No small reptile or amphibian comes amiss 

 to them. They also eat insects and snails, and seeds 

 and green vegetable matter. They are often to be 

 observed feeding at some distance from water. In- 

 deed, my experience is that they are seen more often 

 on dry land than in water. Their long legs appear 

 to be of little use to them except at the nesting season. 



