THE



Avicultural Magazine


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR THE STUDY OF

FOREIGN & BRITISH BIRDS

IN FREEDOM & CAPTIVITY



Third Series. —Vol. XI.—No. 10 .—All rights reserved. OCTOBER, 1920.



NOTES ON CRANES AT WOBURN


By The Duchess of Bedford


One or two interesting events in the Crane world at Woburn are,

perhaps, worth putting on record. A female White-necked Crane

(Anthropoides leucauchen) paired with a Stanley Crane ( Anthr6p>oides

paradisea), and two chicks were hatched. The young birds are now

nearly 3 months old, and are indistinguishable from young Stanley

Cranes. This statement I must qualify, however, by saying that

I have never seen a young Stanley Crane at this age ; but at all

events they bear a strong resemblance to the father and are not at all

like young White-necked Cranes which I know well.


In Hume & Marshall’s Game Birds of India, and also in Blaauw’s

Monograph of the Cranes, it is stated that Sarus Cranes pair for life.

This statement may be true with regard to the bird in a wild state,

but I regret to say that in semi-domestication in Woburn Park, where

some are full-winged and those which are pinioned have the whole

park to range in, this reputation for conjugal fidelity has been shattered.


For many years previous to the War these Cranes nested and often

reared their young. One pair was in the habit of coming daily to be

fed at our windows. In another part of the park a second pair nested

annually, but in an effort to break the eighth commandment and



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