195



THE


Bvtcultural /Ifoagashte,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. — VOL. I. — NO. 6 .—All rights reserved. APRIL, 1903.



THE CROWNED CRANE.


Balearica ftavonina.


By Mrs. Gregory.


(Continued from page ibo).


The voice of the Crowned Crane is much less loud and

more melodious than that of any of the other Cranes, with the

exception, Tegetmeier says, of the Asiatic White Crane (Grus

leucogeranus ), whose cry he describes as being “ very feeble—a

mere chirrup for so large a bird.” To explain this he says, in

The Natural History of the Cranes, “ In general, the trachea (of

Cranes) is elongated and forms a convolution within a cavity in

the keel of the breast bone, but it is remarkable that this

structure does not occur in the Crowned Crane (Balearica ).”

My bird makes no sound (beyond a “cluck” of pleasure some¬

times) unless he is frightened, either by the approach of a

stranger or the sight of a few feathers on the ground ; even at a

few little Sparrows’ feathers I have seen him stop with a most

alarmed look, and croak loudly many times.


His walk is slow and stately, but he can run at a great

pace, with wings outspread. His habits are retiring ; at first he

was so shy his great idea seemed to be to hide himself, and I

often had a difficulty in finding him, for he generally selected

pampas grass to stand or lie behind ; and his wonderful buff-

coloured crest so much resembled the grass in colour, and made

him so difficult to see, that I sometimes wondered if this crown

could have been given him as “ protective colouring.”


He is very fond of water, and the last hour or two before

retiring for the night he spends by the side of a pond, standing



