260 BIRDS. 



CHAPTER XIII. THE CRANES AND BUSTARDS. 



The Crane. Nowadays a rare straggler only, though at 

 the end of the sixteenth century it bred in East Anglia. 

 The old male has a red patch on the crown, and is a bird 

 of about 4 feet in length. 



[The Demoiselle Crane, another southern bird, is included 

 by some in the British list, but many regard it as doubt- 

 ful. It has been recorded in Somerset. 1 ] 



The Great Bustard, familiar in the old engraving with 

 the appropriate Stonehenge in the background, is another 

 straggler in the islands where once it reared its young. 

 The white bristles on the neck distinguish the male. 

 The extinction of the bustard as an indigenous British 

 bird took place in the first third of the present century. 



The Little Bustard. A straggler from Africa, now as 

 always. It is worth noting that the bustards have but 

 three toes. This bird, which is less than half the size of 

 the last, is further distinguished by the bands of white on 

 the throat and neck. 



Macqueen's Bustard, a large and handsome bird with a 

 conspicuous black-and-white crest and ruff, has wandered 

 hither from its home in Central Asia on, so far as is known, 

 two occasions only. 



CHAPTER XIV. THE WADERS. 



[These include the curlews, plovers, snipes, and sand- 

 pipers, a large and important group, most in evidence on 

 our foreshores in winter. They are birds of very similar 

 1 Proceedings Wincanton Field Club (1893). 



