2 Monotiraph of the Cranes. 



in the Asiatic White Crane (G. Jencogeranos). Nevertheless, the crowned 

 cranes send forth a tolerably sonorous note, but in the Asiatic White Crane 

 the voice is described to be much more feeble than in any other species. 



When uttering their loud cries while on the ground, and commonly 

 when not seeking for food, the cranes carry themselves remarkably erect, 

 with the head loftily and proudly raised, and the vertebral column nearly 

 vertical. The beak, when they thus majestically strut, or rather when they 

 stride defiantly, is pointed downward. In the act of trumpeting the neck, 

 at full stretch, is thrown backwards, and the gaping mandibles point to the 

 sky. They have a peculiar mode of nodding the head and expanding the 

 wings widely when at play, meanwhile dancing about in a graceful manner, 

 as every visitor to a zoological garden must have often witnessed. Hence 

 the name of " demoiselle," as applied to the smallest and one of the most 

 elegant and familiarly known of the species. In defence of their young 

 they are fierce and aggressive, and strike both with beak and wings, quite 

 formidably with the former, while the inner toe is furnished with a sharp 

 hooked claw, with which a wounded bird can inflict severe teai-ing scratches, 

 and must therefore be approached with caution ; the same, of course, when 

 attempting to catch hold of one. I have vainly sought, however, for a 

 single figure in which the hooked talon is represented. Tiicy fight or 

 defend themselves alike with beak, wings, and feet, in valorous style, which 

 was surely known to him of old who sang of their reputed combats with 

 the pygmies. " We have known instances," remarks Sir -J. Richar.lson, 

 writing of the American White Crane {G. ainericava), " of the wounded bird 

 putting the fowler to flight, and fairly driving him oft' the field; " and of the 

 same species Mr. H. Youle Hind states that "it is a dangerous antagonist 

 when wounded, striking with unerring aim and with great force with its 

 powerful bill. When the bird is wounded, the best way to avoid its attacks 

 is to present the muzzle of the gun as it approaches ; it will fix its bill in 

 the barrel, and may then be destroyed without danger. Instances have 

 been known of this bird driving his bill deep into the bowels of a hunter 

 when not successful in warding ofi" its blow." Like many other birds, they 

 are clamorously noisy before rain, and in the early morning and evening. 

 In general, it may be asserted of them that the species inhabiting the 

 northern hemisphere are migratory, most of them pre-eminently so, some 

 only partially ; while those of the southern hemisphere are hardly, if at all, 

 migratory. Most of the travelling species congregate in flocks more or less 

 numerous, and sometimes enormous, to perform their seasonal journeys, and 

 continue thus gregarious while in their winter quarters. At the seasons of 

 migration their loud trumpeting cries are heard from vast altitudes in the 

 air, as the flights pass over in V-like array, like those of wild geese. Major 

 Long, writing of the American Sandhill Crane [G. crnutdcnsis), remarks — and 

 his observations apply equally to other species — that ; 



