C RAN lis.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



31 



This remarkable bird h?»s obtained the name of 

 Trumpeter from a hollow internal sound which it 

 makes without opening its bill, and which, accord- 

 ins; to Pallas, results from a peculiar construction 

 of the windpipe, which at first is as thick as a swan's 

 (|uill, but becomes more slender upon entering the 

 <'.hest, when it gives off two membranous seraicir- 

 <;ular sacs, or air-bags, of which that on the right is 

 the most extensive, and divided into three or four 

 cells. The hollow internal drumming, preceded by 

 a wild cry, is evidently produced from the vibra- 

 tion of the air forced into these air-bags from the 

 lungs, by the action of the muscles of the chest and 

 back, and during the utterance of the sound the 

 cliest is seen to heave as in birds while singing. 

 We are here reminded of the drumming of the 

 emeu. The trumpeter is said to scratch a hollow 

 in the ground at the root of a tree for the reception 

 of the eggs, which are^from ten to sixteen in num- 

 ber, and of a light green colour. The down remains 

 long on the young. 



The head, except a circle round the eyes, and the 

 whole of the neck, are covered with black velvety 

 feathers ; on the breast they become large and are 

 rounded, their edges being of a metallic glossy purple 

 and green ; the back is covered with long silky plumes 

 of a delicate grey, which hang gracefully over the 

 wings, which latter are black, as are also the tail and 

 under surface ; the feathers of the tail are soft and 

 short ; the feathers of the under parts are loose and 

 hairy ; bill black ; tarsi pale yellowish olive. 



1890, 1891, 1892.— The Common Crane 

 (Gnis cineren). Grue of the French ; Grua of the 

 Italians ; Kranich of the Germans ; Goran of the 

 Welsh. 



In the genus Grus the bill is long, straight, and 

 compressed laterally, the upper mandible having a 

 furrow on each side, in which are placed the 

 nostrils ; wings moderate, the secondaries nearest 

 the body elongated into drooping plumes. Fig. 1893 

 represents the Bill of the common Crane. The 

 trachea runs a convoluted course within an extensive 

 cavity in the substance of the deep keel of the 

 breast-bone, whence it emerges to enter the chest. 

 The gizzard is strong and muscular. 



The Crane is spread over a great portion of 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa, and from the earliest 

 times has been noticed at a bird of migratory habits. 

 Associated in large flocks, they journey northwards 

 in spring to their accustomed breeding-places, and 

 return southward? in autumn to India, Egypt, and 

 other parts of Africa. According to Latham the 

 crane visits Sweden, Russia, Siberia, and the whole 

 of northern Asia. Dr. Von Siebold noticed it in 

 Japan. Formerly it was a regular visitor to our 

 island, where it bred before cultivation had deprived 

 the species of congenial localities by the enclosing 

 of waste tracts of land and the drainage of marshes. 

 We hear of statutes imposing a fine upon those who 

 should presume to take away the eggs of a crane or 

 bustard. Willughby says, " Cranes come often to 

 lis in England, and in the fen counties of Lincoln- 

 shire and Cambridgeshire there are great flocks of 

 them." It appears that no less than two hundred 

 and four were served up at the feast of Archbishop 

 Nevil in the reign of Edward the Fourth. At 

 present the crane is very rarely seen within our 

 shores, and almost as rarely in Holland. 



The aerial voyages of the crane are performed at 

 a high elevation in the air, and though the loud 

 cries of the passing flock may reach the ear, the 

 birds themselves are beyond the limits of our sight. 

 These flights often take place during the night-time. 

 The crane makes its nest among rushes, reeds, and 

 the long herbage of swampy tracts, and sometimes 

 on the walls of isolated ruins. The eggs are two in 

 number, of a pale dull bluish green, blotched with 

 brown. 



Wide open lands newly sown are often visited by 

 this bird, for the sake of the grain, to which it is 

 very partial, but it also haunts morasses, feeding 

 upon shelled molhisks, worms, frogs, and other rep- 

 tiles. The general colour of the crane is dark grej', 

 the top of the head being red and n»ked, on the 

 back of the head and front of the neck the grey 

 approaches black ; many of the secondaries form 

 long loose drooping plumes ; bill greenish black ; 

 iris red brown ; legs black. Length from the bill 

 to the end of the tail three feet eight or ten inches. 



1894, 1895.— The Demoiselle 



( Anthropoules Viiyo). Ardea Virgo, Linnaeus. 

 The demoi.«e!le, or Numidian crane is remarkable 

 lor grace, symmetry of form, and elegance of de- 

 portment. It is widely spread in Africa, and, like 

 the cranes in general, is migratory in its habits. It 

 extends along the Mediterranean, and is abundant in 

 the neighbourhood of Tripoli ; it visits Egypt during 

 the inundation ; and appears about Constantinople 

 in October, on its return from the southern coasts of 

 the Black and Caspian seas. It has been observed 

 at Lake Baikal, and has been killed in NepSl ; on 



the west of Africa it extends from Egypt to Guinea, 

 and is found near the Cape of Good Hope. The 

 food of this beautiful bird consists in a great measure 

 of grain and seeds, to which it adds insects, worms, 

 &c. It bears our climate well, and has bred in 

 France ; one of the young ones, reared in the mena- 

 gerie of Versailles, lived there for twenty-four years. 

 The demoiselle stands about three feet six inches 

 in height. The top of the head is crey ; behind 

 each eye springs a tuft of white feathers, passing 

 backwards to the occiput, where they form a dronji- 

 ing crest of soft loose plumes, which undulate with 

 every movement ; the sides of the head, the neck, 

 and a long flowing plume depending from the 

 breast, blackish : general tint delicate slate grey ; 

 the secondary quill -feathers, elongated into slender 

 plumes, which fall over the quills and tail ; bill 

 yellowish. 



189G.— The Stanley Cbanb 



(Anthropoides Stanleyamis). Anthropoi'des para- 

 disaeus, Bechstein. 



In beauty, gracefulness, easy elegance of move- 

 ment, this species equals the demoiselle, to which 

 indeed it is closely allied. It runs and bounds with 

 singular velocity, and sweeps along with expanded 

 wings in chace of insects, which it takes as they flit 

 by, and to which it is very partial. In captivity it 

 is gentle and familiar. It is a native of India, 

 perhaps also of Africa. The full soft feathers of the 

 head make it appear as if tumid. The general 

 plumage is bluish grey, passing into brownish black 

 on the points of the tail-feathers and the long 

 pendent flowing wing-plumes, which touch the 

 ground. This species somewhat excels the demoi- 

 selle in stature, and the hind-toe is comparatively 

 larger. 



1897.— The Crowned Crane ' 



(Balearica Pavonina). This species, and one from 

 South Africa, the Kaffir Crowned Crane CBalearica 

 Regulorum), said to be held sacred by the Kaffirs, 

 are the only two species at present known of the 

 genus Balearica (' Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society,' 1833, p. 118), which is now separated from 

 Anthropoides. Till recently these two species were 

 confounded together by most naturalists. 



The crowned crane is a native of Northern and 

 Western Africa. The Romans are supposed to have 

 received them from the Balearic Islands, now Ma- 

 jorca and Minorca. In Guinea and at Cape Verd, 

 as well as in the adjacent countries, they are very 

 common frequenting swampy places, and subsist- 

 ing, like the crane, partly on grains and other vege- 

 tables, partly on insects, mollusks, small fish, &c. 

 At Cape Verd these birds are said to be so familiar 

 as to come into poultry-yards, and feed in company 

 with the domestic inmates. Their gait is slow and 

 stately, but expanding their wings, and assisted by 

 the wind, they scud along with great velocity. 

 Their flight is loi>y, and capable of being long 

 sustained. Their voice is loud, trumpet-like, and 

 hoarse. 



In captivity the crowned crane becomes very 

 tame and gentle ; like the rest of the family to 

 which it belongs, it generally reposes resting on one 

 leg, with its neck bent, and its body maintained 

 almost horizontally. It often, however, assumes a 

 very different attitude, standing perpendicularly 

 upright, with its long neck on the full stretch; in 

 this position it remains for some short space of time 

 gazing steadfastly at the spectator, and_ then break- 

 ing out into a hoarse kind of chuckle. 



The crowned crane stands about four feet in 

 height; the front of the head is covered with short 

 black velvety feathers ; from the occiput there rises 

 a remarkable crest of slender bristle-like filaments, 

 diverging from each other, with a spiral twist, and 

 four or five inches in length. Their colour is 

 yellowish ; they are fringed with minute black : 

 barbs. The cheeks are naked, the upper portion of 

 the denuded space being white, the more exten- 

 sive space below red ; there is a small wattle on the 

 throat. The sreneral plumage is bluish slate-colour ; 

 the feathers of the fore-part of the chest are elon- 

 gated ; the primary quills and the tail are black ; 

 the secondary <)uill-feathers, which are long and 

 slender, are of a rich brown, and the wing-coverts 

 pure white. 



In the Kaffir crowned crane (B. Regulorum) the 

 naked cheeks are white, with a roseate upper margin, 

 and the throat-wattle is laree. Both species, to- 

 gether with the two preceding, are living in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society. 



Family ARDEID^ (HERONS). 



This family is verv extensive, embracing not only 

 the true Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns, but also the 

 Storks and Boatbills, and therefore consists of 

 several minor groups, varying in certain details, 

 though agreeing in general characteristics. They 

 frequent, as a rule, the margins of rivers, lakes, or 

 marshes, feeding on fish, reptiles, and even small 



mammalia. Essentially formed for wading, the 

 legs are very long, and the neck and bill proportion 

 ate. In most the beak is very sharp-pointed, often 

 with the upper mandible sulcated as in the heron. 

 The toes are generally elongated, the hind-toe is 

 applied fairly to the ground, and the claw of the 

 middle toe in the herons, egrets, and bitterns is 

 pectinated. Though in general they build and 

 breed in societies, they always wander alone in 

 search of iood, and after the breeding-season lead 

 a solitary existence. Many are adorned with 

 elegant jilumes and crests. Their wings are ample ; 

 their flight buoyant. Figs. 1898 and 1899 represent 

 the Bill and Head of the Common Heron. Fig. 

 1900, the Pectinated Claw of the Night-Heron. 



1901, 1902.— The Common Heron 

 (Ardea cinerea). Heron of the French ; IJeccapesce, 

 Airone. and Garza of the Italians ; Reyger and 

 Rheier of the Germans; Cryr glas of the Welsh ; 

 Hern, Heronshaw, Hernseugh, English ; Hearon- 

 sewys (Herons), in Household-Book of the fifth Earl 

 of Northumberland. 



In the true Herons the beak is long, straight, 

 compressed, and sharp, with a delicate cere at the 

 base, and the upper mandible sulcated. Lores 

 naked. Legs long, naked high above the tarsal 

 joint. Wings ample and rounded ; middle claw 

 pectinated. See our account of the Goatsucker 

 (p. 286, vol. i.), in which there is similar pectina- 

 tion. The common heron is spread over the greater 

 part of the world, inhabiting Asia and Africa, as 

 well as Europe. In America it is represented by 

 an allied species, Ardea Herodias. In our island 

 and in temperate climes the heron is stationary, 

 but is migratory in colder latitudes. Except during 

 the breeding-season, this fine bird is solitary, haunt- 

 ing rivers, sheets of water, and preserves of fish, 

 where it often commits considerable damage. 

 Recluse and suspicious, the Heron sits roosting 

 during a great part of the day on his accustomed 

 branch in seme remote and dense part of the wood ; 

 or, where marshes are extensive, he may be observed 

 in the middle of the morass, standing on one leg, 

 immoveable as a statue, and so stationed as to 

 command a wide prospect around. If roused by an 

 intruder from this spot of repose, he spreads his 

 wings, mounts into the air, and sails away for some 

 distant and more secluded retreat. To come upon 

 him by surprise is very difficult, it is early in the 

 morning, with the grey of the dawn, after sunset in 

 the evening, and especially during moonlight, that 

 the heron takes his prey, excepting, indeed, when 

 the calls of his nestlings demand his continual 

 exertions. He may then be seen in lonely and 

 secluded nooks, standing in the water, with glisten- 

 ing eye, and head drawn back ready for the fatal 

 stroke ; patiently does he maintain his fixed attitude ; 

 presently a fish passes; sudden as lightning, and 

 with unerring precision, arrow-like he launches his 

 beak, and up he soars bearing the captive to his 

 nest. It is not generally known that the heron will 

 swim. The following fact is related by P. Neill, 

 Esq., of Canonmills, near Edinburgh. This gentle- 

 man had a pair of these beautiful birds tame, and, 

 after some interesting particulars, he thus con- 

 tinues: — "A large old willow-tree had fallen down 

 into the pond, and at the extremity, which is partly 

 sunk in the sludge and continues to vegetate, water- 

 hens breed. The old cock heron swims out to the 

 nest, and takes the young if he can ; he has to swim 

 ten or twelve feet where the water is between two 

 and three feet deep. His motion through the water 

 is slow, but his carriage is stately ; I have .seen him 

 fell a rat by one blow on the back of the bead, 

 when the rat was munching at his dish of fish." 

 (Selby's ' Ornithology.') The heron, as we have said, 

 builds, like the rook, in societies, choosing the 

 highest trees for the purpose ; and the breeding- 

 places are termed heronries. In modern days these 

 I are much more limited in number than formerly, 

 ■ when the heron was protected for the pleasure of 

 the knight and noble, who flew at it their best 

 falcons, and regarded it as a choice delicacy in their 

 banquets. Fig. 1903 is a Heronry, with the surround- 

 ing wild scenery, on the river Findhorn, Morayshire, 

 and described in the 'Penny Alagazine,' for June 6, 

 1840, p. 220. 



About a mile from the town of Reading, in a low 

 meadow traversed by a rapid brook flowing into the 

 Kennet, is a heronry, which we have often visited, 

 and near it a rookery, but neither the herons nor 

 rooks seem to interfere with each other, or offer 

 each other any injury or molestation. The nests 

 are flat and built of sticks. It is amusing to see the 

 herons sailing to and from their city, on wide-spread 

 wings, and wheeling and hovering around their 

 brooding-mates or young; while a loud clanking 

 chatter, uttered by numbers without intermission, 

 and heard at a considerable distance, resounds from 

 the crowded nests, half hidden amidst the foliage of 

 the tall trees, which for years they have colonized. 

 The eggs of the heron are five in number, of a dulJ 



