THE LARGEST BIRD IN INDIA 201 



the female began to move her feet as if scraping the 

 nest, and the young bird betook itself quietly to the 

 water, and swam slowly into the neighbouring flooded 

 paddy field. The hen then slowly descended from 

 the nest into the water and quietly walked off. On 

 reaching the nest, I found in it one egg. I sent one 

 of the men after the youngster, which he quickly 

 secured and brought to me to look at. It was about 

 the size of a small bazaar fowl, and had perhaps been 

 hatched three days. It was covered with soft down. 

 The down on the upper parts was of a rich reddish 

 fawn colour, the back of the neck, a band along the 

 backbone, and a strip on each wing being the places 

 where the colour was most intense ; these were almost 

 chestnut in hue. The lower parts were of a cream 

 colour, into which the reddish fawn merged gradually 

 at the sides of the body. The eyes were large and 

 black. The bill was of pink hue and broad at the 

 base where the yellow lining of the mouth showed. 

 The pink of the bill was most pronounced towards 

 the base, fading almost to white at the tip. The legs 

 and feet were pale pink, the toes being slightly webbed. 

 Even at that stage of the youngster's existence the 

 legs were long, and enabled him to swim with ease, 

 but they were not strong enough to support him when 

 he tried to walk. Sarus cranes cannot walk properly 

 until they are several months old. 



While I was handling the young bird the cock 

 sarus was evidently summoning up his courage, 

 for presently he began to advance in battle array, 

 that is to say, with neck bent, so that the head pro- 



