62 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



CRAKE GALLINULE : The LAND-RAIL. (So called by writers 



from Pennant to Montagu.) 

 CRAKLE : The MISTLE-THRUSH. (Provincial.) 

 CRANE [No. 453]. Derived from Dutch, Kraan ; Old German, 

 Kraen. The name occurs in Turner (1544), in Barlow (1655), 

 and in Merrett (1667). Willughby and most of our eigh- 

 teenth century authors call it the " Common Crane." Now 

 chiefly known as a straggler on migration in the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, etc., but very rarely occurring in England. 

 According to Saunders the Crane used to breed until 1590 

 in the fens of East Anglia, but there is no record of its 

 having done so later. Willughby in 1678 writes : ' w They 

 come often to us in England, and in the Fen-Countries in 

 Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire there are great flocks of 

 them, but whether or no they breed in England (as Aldro- 

 vandus writes, he was told by a certain Englishman who 

 said he had often seen their young ones) I cannot certainly 

 determine, either of my own knowledge or from the relation 

 of any credible person." Turner (writing in 1544) says : 

 " Cranes, moreover, breed in England in marshy places. 

 I myself have very often seen their pipers (i.e. young) 

 though some people born away from England urge that 

 this is false." Aristotle credits the Crane with weather- 

 wisdom, for he writes : " The Grues furthermore do many 

 things with prudence, for they seek for their convenience 

 distant places, and fly high that they may look out far, 

 and if they have seen clouds or a storm, betake themselves 

 to earth, and take rest upon the ground." According to 

 Inwards, if Cranes appear in autumn early, a severe winter 

 is expected. Hesiod says that the voice of the Crane utter- 

 ing its annual cry both bring the signal for ploughing and 

 indicates rainy weather. Cicero ("De Nat. Deor.," n, 49) 

 states that Cranes in their long flights on migration assume 

 the form of a triangle, the apex of which keeps off the wind 

 from those birds in the flanks, making their course through 

 the air easier, the leader being now and again replaced 

 by one of the latter birds, which are said to be able to rest 

 in their flight by placing their heads on the backs of those 

 in front of them. Martial also alludes to the supposition 

 that Cranes fly in a V shape ("Ep.," xm, 75), and he 

 says the ranks are disturbed and the letter broken if you 

 destroy a single bird. 



CRANE. The COMMON HERON is often popularly so mis- 

 named. The numerous place-names derived from Crane 

 refer obviously in most cases to the Heron, e.g. Cranbrook 



