THE CRANE KIND. 335 



break of day, flying down in great numbers from 

 the mountains, and conducting each other with 

 a trumpet cry, that sounds like the word tococo, 

 from whence the savages of Canada have given 

 them the name. In their flight they appear to 

 great advantage ; for they then seem of as bright 

 a red as a burning coal. When they dispose them- 

 selves to feed, their cry ceases, and then they dis- 

 perse over a whole marsh in silence and assiduity. 

 Their manner of feeding is very singular; the 

 bird thrusts down its head, so that the upper 

 convex side of the bill shall only touch the 

 ground ; and in this position the animal appears, 

 as it were, standing upon its head. In this man- 

 ner it paddles and moves the bill about, and seizes 

 whatever fish or insect happens to offer. For this 

 purpose the upper chap is notched at the edges, 

 so as to hold its prey with the greater security. 

 Catesby, however, gives a different account of 

 their feeding. According to him, they thus 

 place the upper chap undermost, and so work 

 about, in order to pick up a seed from the bot- 

 tom of the water, that resembles millet j but as 

 in picking up this they necessarily also suck in 

 a large quantity of mud, their bill is toothed at 

 the edges, in such a manner as to let out the 

 mud, while they swallow the grain. 



Their time of breeding is according to the 

 climate in which they reside : in North America 

 they breed in our summer ; on the other side the 

 Line they take the most favourable season of the 

 year. They build their nests in extensive marshes, 

 and where they are in no danger of a surprise. 



