THE CRANE 87 



but a crane (Grus cinerea), which in the sixteenth 

 century commonly bred in Norfolk, and in Kay's 

 time came in large flocks to Cambridgeshire and 

 Lincolnshire at uncertain intervals. But for some 

 reason unknown, this interesting bird has taken 

 offence with us, and its sonorous note is no longer 

 heard in our land. 



The blunder of an Irish newspaper in confounding 

 cranes and storks has at least two respectable pre- 

 cedents. The first was set by Rafael, who painted 

 cranes devouring fish in the foreground of the cartoon 

 of the Miraculous Draught. The crane, unlike the 

 stork, does not feed on fish ; there is, therefore, the 

 less excuse for Dr. Bowdler Sharpe setting the second 

 precedent, by inserting in his Naturalist's Library 1 

 the figure of a crane devouring an eel, especially as 

 in the text he quotes Mr. Seebohm to the effect 

 that ' the crane is not known to eat fish.' 



i British Birds, vol. iii. p. 113. 



