THE



159



Hvtcultural flftacjasme,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICU LTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. I. — NO. 5 .—All rights reserved.



MARCH, 1903.



THE CROWNED CRANE.


Balearica pavonina.


By Mrs. Gregory.


My Crowned Crane was brought from the West Coast of

Africa (Nigeria) two years before I purchased him. During

those two years he was kept in a wired-in run five yards square ! !

When he came to me his spirit for a time seemed broken, and

he did not understand or appreciate being let loose in a garden

to wander about as he liked. Instead, he would remain standing

close to wire or fences, as if he liked to feel sheltered and pro¬

tected. After some weeks he began to improve, to walk about

more and enjoy himself, and finally to flap his wings, bow

grotesquely, and indulge in eccentric dances with a pair of

Demoiselle Cranes.


He is an extremely gentle bird, and obediently walks

before me into his house when it begins to get dusk. There he

sleeps squatting down on a bed of straw or dried bracken. I do

not know if this habit is peculiar to the Crowned species, as

usually Cranes sleep standing on one leg.


In the morning, about half-past seven, the Demoiselles

walk up a little passage leading to his house, exactly as if they

were going to call him, for in a few moments the Crowned

Crane walks slowly out, stretching his long neck forward (in a

manner which always makes me think of a Giraffe), and follows

them with wings outspread.


I notice that he is much more of a grain eater than they ;

occasionally he will eat a small snail, but he is indifferent to

worms and slugs, and hunts very little after flies, grubs, &c.



