COMMON CRANE. 547 



and two or three examples have been shot on the open sea. 



Nidification commences in May, on the 4th of which month 

 I have seen a clutch of seven eggs, and have observed young 

 on the 23rd. As many as ten to twelve eggs are occasionally 

 found. Varieties in this species are not often met with, 

 the only record being a white one, mentioned by F. O. Morris 

 as occurring at Bawtry. 



In addition to its ordinary name, the bird is known as the 

 Bald Coot, and Bald-headed Coot. 



COMMON CRANE. 



Grus communis (Bechstein). 



Accidental visitant from northern Europe, of extremely rare 

 occurrence. 



The former existence of this magnificent bird in the county 

 of York is evidenced by items in the Bill of Fare at the great 

 banquet given at Cawood in 1466, in honour of the Archbishop 

 of York, where it is stated that there were " In Cranes, c.c. iiii." 

 [204]. In the fifth Earl of Northumberland's Household 

 Book, begun in 1512, the following entry occurs : " It is 

 thought that Cranys muste be hadde at Crystynmas and 

 other principall feestes for my Lordes owne Mees, so they 

 be bought at xvjd. a pece," (equivalent to about eight 

 shillings of the present currency), and at Che vet, near 

 Wakefield, on the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John 

 Neville, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, on I4th January 1526, 

 in the iQth year of Henry VIII., it is set forth : 



" Second course, 

 2nd For a Standart. 



Cranes, two of a dish .... The expense of the week . . . 

 Nine Cranes i los. ..." 



In more modern times there is a record in Fothergill's 

 " Orn. Brit." (1799, p. 7), of an example shot near York in 



