THE CRANE KIND. 299 



lessons of filial piety ; but particularly from their 

 conduct in fighting with the pigmies of Ethiopia, 

 we are to receive our maxims in the art of war. 

 In early times the history of nature fell to the 

 lot of poets only, and certainly none could de- 

 scribe it so well : but it is a part of their pro- 

 vince 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 present 

 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, and they are seldom seen alone. 

 Their usual method of flying or sitting is in 

 flocks of fifty or sixty together ; and while a part 

 feed, the rest stand like sentinels upon duty. 

 The fable of their supporting their aged parents 

 may have arisen from their strict connubial affec- 

 tion ; and as for their fighting with the pigmies, 

 it may not be improbable but that they have 

 boldly withstood the invasions of monkeys com- 

 ing 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 country 

 of Europe except our own. There is no part of 

 the world, says Bellonius, where the fields are cul- 

 tivated, that the crane does not come in with the 



