200 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



Cranes were also, in former times, liig'hlj esteemed as articles of 

 food, 



" The crane, the fesaut, the pecocke, and curlewe, 

 The partriehe, plover, bittorn, and heronsewe, 

 Seasoned so well in licour redolent. 

 That the hall is full of pleasant smell and scent."* 



but are now judged to have forsaken tliis island. f They were 

 formerly as common as the heron. J 



A most improbable assumption once prevailed, that the crane, 

 when on duty as the sentry of its herd, held a stone within its talons, 

 the object of which was supposed to be (according- to the reasoning- 

 of Aristotle) that, standing throughout the watch on one leg-, if the 

 sentry crane chanced to fall asleep unintentionally, the stone would 

 immediately fall from its talons, and rouse the sleepy bird to its 

 sense of duty. " Vig-il lapillum inter pedes tenet, ut si forsitan sur- 

 repserit somnus, casu lapidis excitetur." 



The same thing- is asserted by Pliny, who says, " Excubias habent 

 nocturnis temporibus lapillum pede sustinentis qui laxatus somno et 

 decidens indiligentium coarguat."§ 



It is also said, that cranes used to assemble together before migrat- 

 ing- from oiu' coasts ; and thus, as if a proclamation had been circulated 

 among the species, fixing a day and hour for the occasion of taking 

 their departure, they rise high in the air in one entire herd ; and 

 having- performed a few circumvolutions, dart off in apparently 

 determined ilight.|| The habits of cranes, in this respect, are similar 

 to those of wild swans (vide post, Wild Swan Shooting). 



* Barclay's " Egloges :" a.d. 1570. 



f Pennant's " British Zoology." 



X " Northumberland Household Book." 



§ Pliny, lib. x., cap. 23. 



II " Abiturae congregantur in loca certa comitatseque sic ut nulla generis sui 

 relinquatur nisi captiva et serva ceu lege prsedicta die recedeunt." — Pliny, Ub. x., 

 cap. 23. 



