THE OPEN COUNTRY 



well as marshes with alders from which a wide view of the surrounding country 

 may be obtained. The nest, generally situated in a marsh among rushes and sedges, 

 is built of dry twigs and reeds roughly put together. Since a crane never flies 

 right up to it, but approaches it from some distance, always going and returning 

 the same way so as to make a well-marked path, the nest is easy to find. Cranes 

 lay their eggs in May, and in a month the young birds are hatched. These remain 

 in the nest but a few days, and are at first fed from the beaks of the old birds, by 



whom they are hidden in dense 

 bushes, or among field - crops, 

 until fully fledged. They reach 

 maturity when two years old, 

 and until then associate only 

 with other young cranes, and 

 start with them on their migra- 

 tion. They also pass their second 

 summer by themselves, although 

 on the breeding-grounds of the 

 old birds. Towards the end of 

 September cranes begin to leave 

 for the south, the migration being 

 at its height in October and the 

 early part of November. In cen- 

 tral Europe the flight is from east 

 to west; and before the autumn 

 migration cranes assemble in large 

 flocks at certain spots whence 

 they all fly off together with loud 

 screams. They often migrate in 

 flocks of many thousands, divided 

 up into smaller parties, each Of 

 which flies in good order, either 

 in a serpentine line, or in two 

 lines of fifty or sixty birds, form- 

 ing au acute angle. Generally 

 they fly so high as to be almost 

 invisible, but on dark nights 

 they take a lower level ; should 

 they sight anything suspicious 

 they fly round in circles. In 

 most cases they fly down wind, particularly when on migration, and they may be 

 noticed at different heights, as they are able to fly with the wind in a higher 

 current when the lower current is blowing in the opposite direction. Migrating 

 cranes are often accompanied by small birds, especially larks. When surprised by 

 a late winter in Europe, cranes return, if the migratory instinct be still strong 

 enough in them, to milder climates. The spring migration begins in March ; to- 

 wards the close of the month it is at its height, and it ends with April. 



THE CRANE. 



