o.ri 



A HISTORY OF 



palatable ; and even after every art, it is fit 

 only for the stomachs of strong and labour- 

 ing people. 



The cold Arctic regionseemstobethis bird's 

 favourite abode. They come down into the 

 more southern parts of Europe, rather as vi- 

 sitants than inhabitants: yet it is not well 

 known in what manner they portion out their 

 time, to the different parts of the world. The 

 migrations of the fieldfare or thrush, are ob- 

 vious and well known ; they go northward or 

 southward, in one simple track; when their 

 food fails them here, they have but one re- 

 gion to go to. But it is otherwise with the 

 crane; fie changes place, like a wanderer: 

 he spends the autumn in Europe ; he then 

 flies off, probably to some more southern cli- 

 mate, to enjoy a part of the winter ; returns 

 to Europe in the spring; crosses up to the 

 north in summer ; visits those lakes that are ne- 

 ver dry ; and then comes down again, to make 

 depredations upon our cultivated grounds, 

 in autumn. Thus, Gesner assures us, that 

 the cranes usually begin to quit Germany, 

 from about the eleventh of September to the 

 seventeenth of October; from thence they are 

 seen flying southward by thousands; and 

 Redi tells us, they arrive in Tuscany a short 

 time after. There they tear up the fields, 

 newly sown, for the grain just committed to 

 the ground, and do great mischief. It is to 

 be supposed that, in the severity of winter, 

 they go southward, still nearer the line. 

 They again appear in the fields of Pisa, re- 

 gularly about the twentieth of February, to 

 anticipate the spring. 



In these journeys, it is amazing to conceive 

 the heights to which they ascend when they 

 fly. Their note is the loudest of all other 

 birds ; and that is often heard in the clouds, 

 when the bird itself is entirely unseen. As 

 it is light for its size, and spreads a large ex- 

 panse of wing, it is capable of floating at the 

 greatest height, where the air is lightest; and 

 as it secures its safety, and is entirely out of 

 the reach of man, it flies in tracts which 

 would be too fatiguing for any other birds to 

 move forward in. 



In these aerial journeys, though unseen 

 themselves, they have the distinctest vision 

 of every object below. They govern and di- 

 rect their flight by their cries ; and exhort 



each other to proceed or to descend, when 

 a fit opportunity offers for depredation. Their 

 voice, as was observed, is the loudest of all 

 the feathered tribe; and its peculiar clangor 

 arises from the very extraordinary length and 

 contortion of the windpipe. In quadrupeds, 

 the windpipe is short, and the glottis, or car- 

 tilages that form the voice, are at that end of 

 it which is next the mouth; in water-fowl, 

 the windpipe is longer, but the cartilages 

 that form the voice are at the other end, 

 which lies down in their belly. By this 

 means they have much louder voices, in pro- 

 portion to their size, than any other animal 

 whatever; for the note when formed below, 

 is reverberated through all the rings of the 

 windpipe, till it reaches the air. But the 

 voice of the duck or the goose, is nothing to 

 be compared to that of the crane, whose 

 windpipe is not only made in the same man- 

 ner with theirs, but is above twenty times as 

 long. Nature seems to have bestowed much 

 pains in lengthening out this organ. From 

 the outside, it enters through the flesh into 

 the breast-bone, which hath a great cavity 

 within to receive it. There being thrice re- 

 flected, it goes out again at the same hole, 

 and so turns down to the lungs, and thus en- 

 ters the body a second time. The loud clan- 

 gorous sound which the bird is thus enabled 

 to produce, is, when near, almost deafening : 

 however, it is particularly serviceable to the 

 animal itself, either during its migrations, or 

 its stay ; by it the flock is encouraged in their 

 journeys ; and if, while they are feeding, 

 which is usually performed in profound si- 

 lence, they are invaded on any side, the bird 

 that first perceives the danger is sure to sound 

 the alarm, and all are speedily upon the wing. 

 As they rise but heavily, they are very shy 

 birds, arid seldom let the fowler approach 

 them. Their depredations are usually made 

 in the darkest nights ; at which time they 

 enter a field of corn, and trample it down, as 

 if it had been crossed over by a regiment of 

 soldiers. On other occasions, they choose 

 some extensive solitary marsh, where they 

 range themselves all day, as W they were in 

 deliberation ; and not having that grain which 

 is most to their appetites, wade the marshes 

 for insects and other food, which they can 

 procure with less danger. 



