39°



Mr. W. II. St. Quintin,



doing so with the third nest. On August 13 there were no signs

of young, but on the following morning the mother asked in a

lukewarm way for a mealworm. Later in the day, however,

both birds were at me, and I knew that another Mesia had been

born into the world.


(To be continued).



ON BREEDING THE DEMOISELLE CRANE


(Anthropoidcs virgo) IN CAPTIVITY.


Ily W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S.


Readers of the Magazine will recollect an interesting

paper contributed a few years ago by Mr. Lascelles, describing

the hatching of two young Demoiselle Cranes by a pair then in

his possession at Lyndhurst. Unfortunately from various causes

these young ones came to grief, and I believe before another

breeding season came round one or both parent birds had been

killed by foxes. I have been more fortunate this summer, for a

pair of these Cranes which I have had for about six years have

reared two young, which are now fullgrown, or at least of the

same apparent size as the parents.


After laying eggs several times, which always proved

unfertile, the birds went to nest at the end of April this

year, but contrary to their usual custom laid, instead of two, only

a single egg. Partly on this account, and partly because the

weather was then particularly cold and unseasonable, I took this

egg, and the birds almost immediately selected another very

suitable site, five or six feet off a small stream, and laid two

eggs. There was no real nest, only a few short dead sticks,

perhaps half a handful, scattered loosely on the spot where the

eggs were deposited.


The first egg was laid on the 7th May, the second on the

9th, and the birds began to %it on the latter day.


Both parents, as they always have done, shared the task of

incubation, frequently changing places during the day. Though

really perfectly tame, these Cranes are very secretive when



