BIRD PROBLEMS 209 



seas which, without their aid, it would be difficult 

 to cross. Mr J. E. Harting quotes this statement, 

 and adds that in the autumn flocks of cranes are 

 seen coming from the north with the first cold blast 

 from that quarter, flying low, and uttering peculiar 

 cries as they circle over the cultivated plains. Little 

 birds of different species may then be seen flying up 

 to them; while the twittering of those already 

 comfortably settled upon their backs is distinctly 

 heard. On their return in spring the cranes fly high, 

 perhaps considering that their little passengers 

 can easily find their way down to earth. Professor 

 Claypole, although extremely incredulous at first, 

 had ocular demonstration that small birds are some- 

 times carried by a flock of cranes, for he saw the 

 former rise from among them at the discharge of a 

 flintlock. The same gentleman is satisfied, too, that 

 wagtails and other small migrants cross over from 

 Europe on their southward migration in a similar 

 manner. A like belief with regard to the same birds 

 is commonly held at Cairo. Adolf Ebeling, a 

 scientific German, and Von Heuglin, the African 

 traveller, both hold the theory; and the former 

 quotes Dr Petermann, who says that Professor 

 Roth, of Munich, related to him a conversation with 

 Hadenberg, the Swedish traveller, who spoke to the 

 following effect: He was staying at Rhodes in 



autumn, and at that season the storks came in flocks 

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