318 HISTORY OF 



with a topping was brought into Europe, and described by AU 

 drovandus as Pliny's Balearic Crane. Hence these birds, which 

 have since been brought from Africa and the East in numbers, 

 have receivea the name of Balearic Cranes, but without any just 

 foundation. The real Balearic Crane of Pliny seems to be the 

 lesser ash-coloured heron, with a topping of narrow white fea 

 thers ; or perhaps the egret, with two long feathers that fall back 

 from the sides of the head. The bird that we are about to de- 

 scribe under the name of the Balearic Crane, was unknown to 

 the ancients, and the heron or egret ought to be reinstated in 

 their just title to tbat name. 



When we see a very extraordinary animal, we are naturally 

 led to suppose that there must be something also remarkable in 

 its history, to correspond with the singularity of its figure. But 

 it often happens that history fails on those occasions where we 

 most desire information. In the present instance, in particular, 

 no bird presents to the eye a more whimsical figure than this, 

 which we must be content to call the Balearic Crane. It is 

 pretty nearly of the shape and size of the ordinary crane, with 

 long legs and a long neck, like others of the kind ; but the bill 

 is shorter, and the colour of the feathers of a dark greenish gray. 

 The head and throat form the most striking part of this bird's 

 figure. On the head is seen, standing up, a thick round crest, 

 made of bristles, spreading every way, and resembling rays stand- 

 ing out in different directions. The longest of these rays are 

 about three inches and a half, and they are all topped vidth a 

 kind of black tassels, which give them a beautiful appearance. 

 The sides of the head and cheeks are bare, whitish, and edged 

 with red ; while underneath the throat hangs a kind of bag or 

 wattle, like that of a cock, but not divided into two. To give 

 this odd composition a higher finishing, the eye is large and star- 



labours of a negro gardener. In the evening', this bird would retire of itself 

 into a poultry-house, where it reposed in the midst of a hundred fowl. It 

 would perch on the highest bar, awake very early in the morning, fly round 

 the house, and sometimes proceed to the sea-shore. It would attack cats 

 with great intrepidity. It would have lived longer, had it not been acci- 

 dentally killed, by a fowler, who mistook it for a wild curlew, when it was 

 on a pond. All this shows the possibility of rearing in the warmer climates 

 of Europe a bird which, according to the testimony of Laet, has already 

 produced in a domestic state, and may, perhaps, one day be turned to good 

 account. 



