Orus leucauchen, 37 



form of ornamentation — in porcelain and lacquer, tapestry and embroidery; and nothing 

 can be more artistic than the way in which they are treated in all these various works : 

 (Ibid., vol. i., p. 307.) 



[To illustrate the artistic manner in v?hich the cranes are treated by the 

 Japanese I have inserted some photo-lithographic reproductions of original 

 drawings from Cutler's Grammar of Japanese Ornament.] Elsewhere Sir R. 

 Alcock represents a flock, some on the ground, others in the air : (vol. ii., 

 p. 281.) 



Beyond (he writes), on the surface of the pond, are myriads of wildfowl, so conscious 

 of their immunity from gun and dog, under imperial decree, that they allow you to 

 approach within a few yards — a most aggravating sight to a sportsman [?] ; but 

 such is the law, and the birds evidently know it. No shot at bird or beast may be fired 

 within ten ri, or thirty miles, of the Tycoon's residence ; and Yokohama, alas ! is only 

 seventeen miles distant. To the Japanese probably it is no privation ; but to an 

 Englishman, sick of pork and fowls all the year round, and eager for open-air sport 

 and exercise, it is very hard ; but the Japanese officials seem to take all the more 

 pleasure in vigorously insisting upon the inviolability of the laws. Their artists equally 

 excel, from long and loving study, in depicting all kinds of wildfowl. Hawking 

 seems the only sport in vogue even among the privileged and higher classes, and that 

 in the imperial domain is strictly limited likewise to the Tycoon. No private indivi- 

 dual, so I am told, may even keep a falcon, of which there are some very fine specimens. 

 This is only one of the numerous petty restraints and restrictions arising from a totally 

 different state of society and political organisation — of a more or less irritating and 

 vexatious character — to which foreigners must perforce submit who take up their resi- 

 dence in Japan. 



[The power of the Daimios is at an end ; the restrictions which Sir 

 Rutherford Alcock regarded as so petty and irritating in 1863 have been 

 removed. The result is told us by Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer in their 

 list of the birds of Japan : {Ibis, 1878, p. 224.) These gentlemen write as 

 follows : 



" 6i-us leucauchen, ' Tancho,' the national Crane of Japan. This beautiful bird used 

 to be rather common, but, now that it is permitted to become a prey of any one, has 

 been almost exterminated. It was formerly allowed to be hawked, with great ceremony, 

 only by nobles of the highest rank. This is the crane so commonly figured in native 

 drawings, and is much and deservedly admired. It is a bird of passage." 



Of the migration of this species we know most from Lieut. -Col. 

 Prjevalsky, who in his account of " The Birds of Mongolia, the Tangat 

 Country, and Northern Tibet," informs us : 



About Dalay-nor and the town of Kalgan we met with a few of these cranes, and 

 consequently think that they do not go tar into the interior of Asia, although they 

 are common in Ussuri-country and in Manchuria. 



About Lake Hanka G. leucauchen is more numerous than any other species of this 

 genus, arriving there in the beginning of March, when the snow is still on the ground, 

 and the nights are frosty up to 20° C. The principal migration, however, takes 

 place in the middle of March. Early in April, when the marshes are free from ice, 

 they take up their position in pairs. During the breeding season the male is very 

 much attached to the female, and often gambols before her on the ground, and goes 



