256 THE FOOD OP BIRDS IN INDIA. 



reptiles with an occasional snake thrown in by way of condiment. 

 D. B. P., 38. 



' Their food is very varied, frogs, lizards and all small rep- 

 tiles, insects of all kinds, snail and other land and water shells, 

 seeds, grains and small fruits of various kinds, green vegetable 

 matter and the bulbous roots of various species of aquatic plants, 

 and they sgem to feed indifferently on wet and dry fields or dry 

 grassy uplands, on the margins and in the shallows of rivers, broads 

 and swamps on the young paddy plant and sometimes do con- 

 siderable damage to the nurseries probably also other green 



shoots, grasshoppers and frogs, and perhaps young fish I do 



not think they catch live fish, although the young wh^n domesti- 

 cated are fed by the Burmans on small fish and shrimps. H. 

 M. G. B. Ill, 5. It feeds less exclusively perhaps on grain than 

 the other Cranes met with in India. Jerd. B. I. Ill, 663.'* 



Kooian and Saras Cranes live on frogs and fish. Punjab 

 G-az., Hissar, 20. Apparently obtain some portion of their food 

 by digging in the ground with their bills. 



1411. Anthropoides virgo. Demoiselle Crane. Though I have 

 found animal food similar to that devoured by the Common Crane 

 in the gizzards of the present species, it has always been in small 

 quantities, and the greater bulk has always proved to be grain 

 and green vegetable matter. Mr. G. Vidal ' ' In Sattara stubbles 

 in early morning their favourite food is the karda or safflower 

 oil seed (Carthamus tinctorius)/' Mr. G. Davidson " In Sholapur 

 and Sattara districts principally on karda/' H. M. G. B. I. Ill, 

 35-36. 



Feeding in early morning in kardai or safflower, of which they 

 are particular!^ fond. Bom. Gaz., Vol. XIX, 40. In the Daman 

 a sort of field mouse (Drui) is\>ften very destructive to the crops, 

 and multiplies exceedingly till drowned out by the floods, or 

 exterminated by the Adjutant and Cranes. Punjab Gaz., Dera 

 Ismail Khan. 



The Kulan are fond oi fields of gram, when the grain has not 

 yet hardened. Punjab^Gaz., Delhi. 



