200 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



Cranes were also, in former times, highly esteemed as articles of 

 food, 



" The crane, the fesant, the pecocke, and curlewe, 

 The partriche, plover, bittorn, and heronsewe, 

 Seasoned so well in licour redolent, 

 That the hall is full of pleasant smell and scent."* 



but are now judged to have forsaken this island, f They were 

 formerly as common as the heron. | 



A most improbable assumption once prevailed, that the crane, 

 when on duty as the sentry of its herd, held a stone within its talons, 

 the object of which was supposed to be (according to the reasoning 

 of Aristotle) that, standing throughout the watch on one leg, if the 

 sentry crane chanced to fall asleep unintentionally, the stone would 

 immediately fall from its talons, and rouse the sleepy bird to its 

 sense of duty. tf Vigil lapillum inter pedes tenet, ut si forsitan sur- 

 repserit somnus, casu lapidis excitetur." 



The same thing is asserted by Pliny, who says, " Excubias habent 

 nocturnis temporibus lapillum pede sustinentis qui laxatus somno et 

 decidens indiligentium coarguat." 



It is also said, that cranes used to assemble together before migrat- 

 ing from our coasts ; and thus, as if a proclamation had been circulated 

 among the species, fixing a day and hour for the occasion of taking 

 their departure, they rise high in the air in one entire herd ; and 

 having performed a few circumvolutions, dart off in apparently 

 determined flight. || The habits of cranes, in this respect, are similar 

 to those of wild swans (vide post, Wild Swan Shooting). 



* Barclay's "Egloges :" A.D. 1570. 



f Pennant's " British Zoology." 



j " Northumberland Household Book." 



Pliny, lib. x., cap. 23. 



|| "Abiturse congregantur in loca certa comitataeque sic ut nulla generis sui 

 relinquatur nisi captiva et serva ceu lege prsedicta die recedeunt." Pliny, Ub. i., 

 cap. 23. 



