874 



GRUS. 



generally of an ashen-grey colour, with the throat, 

 the fore part of the neck, and the hind head, dusky ; 

 the crest or cap on the head, and also the quills, 

 black. The bird is about the size of a turkey in the 

 body, and weighs about ten pounds, but, from the 

 great length of its legs, it is nearly five feet in height. 

 Common cranes are very discursive birds, and 

 range seasonally from the north of Europe to the 

 south of Asia and the north of Africa, and in the lat- 

 ter country they are said to extend their migrations 

 as far as the Cape of Good Hope. On these excur- 

 sions they fly high in the air, though they experience 

 some difficulty in getting on the wing from the 

 ground. Before taking their spring, they run some 

 paces, raise themselves a little at first, and then un- 

 fold a powerful and rapid wing. In the air they form 

 very nearly an isosceles triangle, possibly for the 

 purpose of cutting the element with greater facility. 

 When attacked by an eagle, or the wind is likely to 

 break their order, they close in circles. Their 

 passage frequently takes place during the night, 

 which is known by their sonorous voice, which 

 announces it, and the head of the troop often utters, 

 to indicate the route he is taking, a cry of appeal, to 

 which all his followers answer. Their voices, even 

 on these nocturnal voyages, are exceedingly loud, 

 probably owing to the length of the wind-pipe, and 

 the convolution near its bronchial extremity. When 

 they cry during the day they are generally under- 

 stood to forebode rain, as is the case with the cries of 

 many other birds which feed partially on those worms 

 which the approaching humidity brings to the surface, 

 not only when the rain actually falls, but when, from 

 the changed state of the air, the evaporation is much 

 diminished. When they are peculiarly noisy and 

 tumultuous, and fly near the ground, occasionally 

 alighting, it is considered as a pretty certain indica- 

 tion of a tempest. On the other hand, when they 

 rise high, and fly onward in regular order, it is 

 regarded as a sign of fine weather. In getting on 

 the wing, the apparent difficulty which they expe- 

 rience does not arise from the want of space in which 

 to move their wings, for their legs are sufficiently 

 ling for allowing these to act with perfect freedom, 

 even when the feet are firmly on the ground. They 

 appear to run forward, for the purpose of getting an 

 impetus of the whole body ; and when that is 

 acquired, they jerk themselves into the air by the 

 elasticity of the legs, and move off in very good 

 style, and they are capable of passing over many 

 miles without alighting. When they assemble on 

 the ground for the purpose of repose, which, after 

 a long flight, they take with the head under the 

 wing, they have always sentinels appointed to 

 give the alarm in case of danger. Those sentinels 

 stand on the one leg, as is also the habit of the 

 storks ; and the peculiar structure by means of which 

 this resting on one foot is probably a greater relief 

 to them than resting on both feet, because the balance 

 is then preserved by means of the ligaments, which 

 act by their elasticity as matter, and not by living 

 exertion, as is the case with muscles. The distal 

 extremity of the femur, or thigh bone, where it arti- 

 culates with the bones of the leg, has a hollow or 

 depression, which, in ordinary cases, receives a pro- 

 jection of the leg bones, and when this projection is 

 received into the hollow, the bones, taken together, 

 are shorter than when it is displaced. When, how- 

 ever, this joint, which is the proper knee-joint of the 



bird, though the tarsal-joint is usually so called, is 

 much bent, the projection slides out of the hollow, 

 and bears upon a more elevated part ; by this means 

 the two bones together become longer, which lightens 

 the ligaments, and the resistance of the elasticity of 

 these makes the leg much firmer at this joint than if 

 it were extended, and consequently the one leg, bent 

 as far as it will bend at this joint, forms a very steady 

 support. Many birds have this structure, and are 

 able to rest on one leg for a considerable time, but 

 none have it in such perfection as the cranes and 

 storks. 



The common cranes are understood to build in the 

 northernmost parts of their range, and probably as far 

 to the north as Lapland in some instances. They are 

 very common in Sweden, and particularly abundant 

 in the marshes of Central and Western Russia. In 

 some parts of Poland they invade the crops, espe- 

 cially those of buck-wheat, in such numbers, that the 

 farmers find it necessary to employ people to drive 

 them off. The nests are formed in bushes and tufts 

 of tall aquatic plants, close by the margins of the 

 waters. The eggs are only two in number, of a 

 greenish colour, and blotched over with brown spots. 



The ancients were very familiar with the manners 

 and migrations of these birds, and mixed them up 

 with their superstitions. The positions of the moun- 

 tains, both in Europe and in Asia, where they ap- 

 proximate the narrow straits which connect the 

 Archipelago and the Black Sea, naturally bring the 

 whole of the migrant flocks over Greece ; and the 

 plains of Thessaly, and the other more fertile parts, 

 were, and are still, their resting-places, after crossing 

 both the Northern and the Southern Seas. In those 

 days the flesh of the crane was a luxury, and it is 

 also recorded among the dishes served up in old 

 times in England. In the old birds it is black and 

 tough, but said to be at least tolerable in the young 

 ones. 



THE GIGANTIC CRANE ( G. gigantea). This spe- 

 cies is also styled the Siberian crane, though the 

 name is scarcely appropriate, inasmuch as the bird 

 appears to be found in the northern parts of both 

 continents. It is a much more northerly inhabitant 

 than the common crane, and in the eastern continent 

 it probably does not get farther south in the winter 

 than 'the latitudes of the Caspian and the lake Aral, 

 while in the summer it ranges far to the north along 

 the banks of the Siberian rivers in all places where 

 there are marshes. In America it has been observed 

 in the marshes near Hudson's Bay, or at all events a 

 bird has been observed there so like that of the north 

 of Asia that there is no specific distinction between 

 them. It does not appear that this crane occurs in 

 the European division of the northern migration ; but 

 it is probable that it ranges from Hudson's Bay west- 

 ward to Nova Zembla, migrating with the seasons, 

 though not reaching the tropical countries. 



The general colour of this species is snowy white, 

 with the ten first quills black, and the bill and feet 

 reddish. It is a very majestic bird, and when it raises 

 its long neck it stands four feet and a half high. The 

 young of the year are of an ochre colour, with the 

 forehead, bill, and legs, greenish brown ; and very 

 old birds have a yellowish tinge on the back of the 

 neck. These birds have been most observed in 

 Siberia, where they feed upon fish and lizards, frogs 

 and other reptiles ; they are very vigilant birds, shy 

 and cunning, and it is difficult to get near them, as 



