THE CRANE KIND. 



553 



It is a tall slender bird, with a long neck and 

 long legs. The top of the head is covered 

 with black bristles, and the back of it is bald 

 and red, which sufficiently distinguishes this 

 bird from the stork, to which it is very near- 

 ly allied in size and figure. The plumage, 

 in general, is ash-coloured; and there are 

 two large tufts of feathers, that spring from 

 the pinion of each wing. These bear a re- 

 semblance to hair, and are finely curled at 

 the ends, which the bird has a power of erect- 

 ing and depressing at pleasure. Gesner 

 says, that these feathers, in his time, used to 

 be set in gold, and worn as ornaments in 

 caps. 



Such are the dimensions of a bird, con- 

 cerning which, not to mention modern times, 

 there have been more fables propagated than 

 of any other. It is a bird with which all the 

 ancient writers are familiar; and, in descri- 

 bing it, they have not failed to mix imagina- 

 tion with history. From the policy of the 

 cranes, they say, we are to look for an idea 

 of the most perfect republic amongst our- 

 selves; from their tenderness to their decre- 

 pit parents, which they take care to nourish, 

 to cherish, and support when flying, we are 

 to learn lessons of filial piety ; but particular- 

 ly from their conduct in fighting with the pig- 

 mies of Ethiopia, we are to receive our max- 

 ims in the art of war. In early times, the 

 history of nature fell to the lot of poets only, 

 and certainly none could describe it so well; 

 but it is a part of their province to embellish 

 also ; and when this agreeable science was 

 claimed by a more sober class of people, 

 they were obliged to take the accounts of 

 things as they found them ; and, in the pre- 

 sent instance, fable ran down blended with 

 truth to posterity. 



In these accounts, therefore, there is some 

 foundation of truth ; yet much more has been 

 added by fancy. The crane is certainly a 

 very social bird, arid they are seldom seen 

 alone. Their usual method of flying or sit- 

 ting is in flocks of fifty or sixty together; and 

 while a part feed, the rest stand like centi- 

 nr>!s upon duty. The fable of their support- 

 ing I.Ueir aged parents, may have arisen from 

 their strict connubial affection; and as for 

 their fighting with tho pigmies, it may not be 

 improbable but that they have boldly withstood 



the invasions of monkeys coming to rob their 

 nests; for, in this case, as the crane lives 

 upon vegetables, it is not probable that it 

 would be the first aggressor. 



However this be, the crane is a wandering, 

 sociable bird, that, for the most part, subsists 

 upon vegetables; and is known in every coun- 

 try of Europe, except our own. There is no 

 part of the world, says Bellonius, where the 

 fields are cultivated, that the crane does not 

 come in with the husbandman for a share in 

 the harvest. As they are birds of passage, 

 they are seen to depart, and return regularly 

 at those seasons when their provision invites 

 or repels them. They generally leave Eu- 

 rope about the latter end of autumn, and re- 

 turn in the beginning of summer. In the in- 

 land parts of the continent, they are seen 

 crossing the country in flocks of fifty or a hun- 

 dred, making from the northern regions to- 

 wards the south. In these migrations, how- 

 ever, they are not so resolutely bent upon 

 going forward, but that if a field of corn of- 

 fers in their way, they will stop a while to 

 regale upon it: on such occasions they do 

 incredible damage, chiefly in the night; and 

 the husbandman, who lays down in joyful ex- 

 pectation, rises in the morning to see his 

 fields laid entirely waste by an enemy, whose 

 march is too swift for his vengeance to over- 

 take. 



Our own country is free from their visits ; 

 not but that they were formerly known in 

 this island, and held in great estimation for 

 the delicacy of their flesh; there was even a 

 penalty upon such as destroyed their eggs ; 

 but, at present, they never go so far out of 

 their way. Cultivation and populousness go 

 hand in hand ; and though our fields may of- 

 fer them a greater plenty, yet it is so guard- 

 ed that the birds find the venture greater than 

 the enjoyment; and probably we are much 

 better off by their absence than their com- 

 pany. Whatever their flesh might once have 

 been, when, as Plutarch tells us. cranes were 

 blinded and kept in coops, to be fattened for 

 the tables of the great in Rome; or, as they 

 were brought up. stuffed with mint and rue, 

 to the tables of our nobles at home; at pre- 

 sent, they are considered all over Europe as 

 wretched eating. The flesh is fibrous and 

 dry, requiring much preparation to make it 



