on I i reed mg the Dcmotse/lc ( rcmc in Captivity, y) i


silting, :m<l slip oil tlu* eggs ;it once, walking off in different

directions, pretending to iced, and showing a considerable

amount ol strategy in their efforts to draw an intrndei away

liom then treasure',. II one approached the eggs, tlieii anxiety

was great, the female generally scrambling oyei the ground as il

injured, while the male would erect his ue< k plumes, and do his

best to intimidate.


On June ,pd the young hirds could he heard, and next day

one egg was chipped. The first young one was hatched on June

5th. It spent most ol this day in the nest. Once we saw it

standing up about two feet away from the other egg, and the old

one was trying to coax it back. 'The next morning the second

little Crane was hatched. It stayed in the nest all day, one

parent brooding it, while the olhei one could walk a little, and

was sometimes two 01 three yards away, closely attended by tin*

second old bird. I saw the lallci once holding it’s beak down to

the young one, apparently offering it some small insect, but

it did not then seem willing to feed. I decided, as there seemed

some risk of the little birds falling into the stream, to run a roll

ol nunow wire netting between them and the water, 'fins we

safely accomplished, my man nriauging the netting, while I

held the young birds in my hand, art we were .afraid ol the old

ones trampling upon them 111 theii excitement. The patents

soon settled down, and we left them for the rest ol th*• day.


On the 7th, the Cranes took the young up a bank on to the

level pail ol the paddock, and at once began to forage Idi them in

the long grass, and < at 1 ied to them a few mealworms which, baling

the supply of natural food might be insufficient, I threw to them.

The young birds were taken down tin* bank again at night and

were brooded close to the old nest. That was the last time that

they returned to the nest ; but for some weeks the young wei e

taken at dusk, or during the day if rain fell, to a diy place

under a beech tree, on the top of a bank, where the grass was

short. No belter roosting place in the field could have been

selected, and in this as in other ways the parents showed much

intelligence, as well as the greatest devotion and cap . As long

as th'- young were feeble the old ones searched the long grass at

a distance of some yards, and brought each insec t separately to



