70 CRA^E. 



peculiar sound, and is best described by comparing it to a 

 trumpet sounding the word 'curr' or 'coor,' and this accounts 

 for the birds being heard long before they are seen. The 

 young birds of the year utter the word 'sheeb,' or 'weeb;' 

 when very young they chirp. "When a great flock is on the 

 wing, the cry of these birds is consequently confused.' 



The Crane nidificates both on low trees, stumps, and 

 bushes, and also on the ground; sometimes too on the top 

 of some old building, as well as upon a conglomerate mass 

 of rushes or other water plants, among high grass or reeds, 

 and in osier beds, and other such situations, in morasses, 

 and by the sides of lakes. The nest is a large structure, 

 made of sticks, with grass, rushes, flags, reeds, and other soft 

 materials. The young remain for some days in the nest, and 

 are fed by the parents with food prepared in their own crops. 



The eggs are two they are richly coloured, of a pale olive 

 green ground, blotted and spotted with darker shades of 

 green and olive brown. Both birds incubate them. 



The unicoloured plumage of this bird is relieved by the 

 fine red. 



Male; weight, nearly ten pounds; length, four feet or 

 more, up to five feet; bill, dark greenish yellow at the 

 base, paler towards the tip; iris, red; from the eye and 

 down the side of the neck is dull white; bristles spread 

 over the forehead and the space to the eye, which part is 

 dark bluish or blackish grey; the sides of the head are 

 greyish white; crown, bare of feathers and red in an oval 

 shape; neck on the back and nape, dark bluish grey, with a 

 hue of brown; here also is a bare place ash-coloured. Chin, 

 throat, and neck in the front, also dark bluish grey; breast, 

 fine bluish grey; back, dark bluish grey. 



The wings have the first quill feather a little shorter than 

 the fourth, but a little longer than the fifth; the second 

 and third being the longest in the wing, and both of the 

 same length. Greater and lesser wing coverts, dark bluish 

 grey; primaries, black; some of the secondaries are long and 

 arched, as also the tertiaries, which are dark bluish grey, 

 varied and tipped with bluish black, their elongation forming 

 long hair-like plumes, the webs being unconnected, which 

 the bird raises or depresses at pleasure. They used formerly 

 to be in much request as ornaments for head dress. Tail, 

 bluish grey, tipped with bluish black; legs and toes, light 

 bluish black; claws, black. 



