340 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
These birds were well known in ancient times ; Homer, Herodotus, 
Aristotle, Plutarch, A°lian, Pliny, and Strabo have noticed them and 
their migrations. Unfortunately, not content with correct observa- 
tions, they have given credence to some most ridiculous fables, 
invented in Greece and Egypt, the classic and fertile lands of the 
marvellous. ‘Thus, according to the Egyptian story, the Cranes made 
an expedition to the sources of the Nile to fight against the Pygmies, 
who were, as Aristotle says, ‘‘a race of little men, mounted on little 
horses, who dwelt in caves.” According to Pliny, these little men 
were armed with arrows, and mounted on rams; they abode in the 
mountains of India, and came down every spring to wage war 
against the Cranes. ‘The Roman naturalist fancies that they succeeded 
in this destructive aim, for the town of Gerania, which even in his 
time was ruined and deserted, was formerly, he asserts, inhabited by 
a race of Pygmies, who were driven out by the Cranes. In the 
views of modern commentators, these Pygmies were nothing but 
monkeys, which assemble in large troops in the forests of Africa and 
India, and always manifest hostility to birds. 
The Greeks have also invented two stories about Cranes, whicl. 
are certainly very ingenious, but result from the error of attributing 
too much importance to trifles. They say Cranes carry a pebble in 
their mouths when they cross Mount Taurus, so that they are com- 
pelled to keep mute; they thus avoid exciting the attention of the 
eagles inhabiting those districts, which birds are much disposed to 
do them mischief. In the same way, the Crane which is placed as 
sentinel to watch over his sleeping companions is bound to stand on 
one leg and carry a stone in the other claw, so that if he allows 
himself to be overtaken by slumber, the fall of the pebble would 
wake him up. It was, as we are aware, the expedient of the youthful 
Aristotle to hold an iron ball suspended over a metal basin in order 
to wake himself if he succumbed to sleep. We should ascribe too 
much ingenuity to the Crane in imputing to it an action of Aristotle’s. 
The members of this intere ting feathered tribe were said to 
possess certain virtues. The thigh bone of a Crane imparted to him 
who possessed it remarkable vigour and elasticity of limb. Its brain 
also was a kind of love-philtre ; it transformed the ugliest man into a 
perfect Adonis, and won for him the favour of the fair. 
It is, moreover, to the Crane that the Greeks are indebted for one 
of their favourite dances. Be it understood that we are now return- 
ing to plain matter of fact. The games and dances which Cranes 
indulge in amongst themselves are not mere idle stories ; observers 
of our own day, well worthy of credit, have proved their authenticity. 
