THE COMMON CRANE. 1 13 



ence between European and Indian examples. The series in 

 the British Museum, however, teaches a different conckision, 

 and I am as yet quite unconvinced that the two species are the 

 same, because there is a great gap in the geographical distribu- 

 tion of the two forms, as has been illustrated by Radakoff in 

 his "Hand-Atlas." 



Habits.— The Crane is a migratory bird to Europe, arriving in 

 February in the south and reaching its northern breeding-home 

 in April and May. Colonel Irby writes: — "On the nth of 

 March, 1874, Mr. Stark and myself had the pleasure of seeing 

 them on passage, and a grand and extraordinary sight it was, 

 as flock after flock passed over at a height of about two hun- 

 dred yards, some in single line, and some in a V-shape, others in 

 a Y-formation, all from time to time trumpeting loudly. We 

 watched them for about an hour as they passed, during which 

 time we calculated that at least four thousand must have flown 

 by. This was early in the morning, and we were obliged to 

 continue our journey ; but when we lost sight of the Vega of 

 Casas Viejas, over which the Cranes were passing in a due 

 northerly direction, there appeared to be no diminution in their 

 numbers, and, as my friend remarked, ' one would not have 

 believed that there were so many Cranes in the whole of 

 Europe.'" 



" Unlike the Herons and the Storks," writes Mr. Seebohm, 

 " the Crane has a loud and not unmusical voice, which can be 

 heard at an immense distance. The keel of the sternum is 

 hollow, and the wind-pipe is convoluted between the plates 

 on either side ; and from this long pipe, as from a trombone, 

 proceed loud, clear, trumpet-like notes, so rapidly trilled as 

 almost to split the ear with their vibrations. These notes can 

 be variously modulated to express the different feelings of 

 the bird. The Crane feeds more on vegetable than on animal 

 food. It eats all sorts of corn, seeds, buck-wheat, peas, the 

 tender shoots of aquatic plants, and even grass ; but it often 

 devours worms, insects of various kinds, and even lizards and 

 small frogs, but it is not known to eat fish." 



Nest.— To again quote Colonel Irby, the " nests vary much 

 in size, some being quite five feet across, others perhaps not 

 more than eighteen inches ; some are deep, and stand high 



II I 



