CRANES. 



465 



spot, now falls along an open sandy reach, swaying meanwhile to the right or left. 

 As it passes on, the individual birds are blended in the hazy distance, till, just 

 before lost to view, the line becomes like an immense serpent gliding mysteriously 

 through the air. When about to alight, fearful lest the shadows of the woods 

 harbour unseen dangers, the 

 cranes pass by the leafy in- 

 tricacies where the ibises and 

 other less suspicious birds feed, 

 and choose a spot for the 

 advantages it may offer of 

 uninterrupted vision. By nature 

 one of the most wary and 

 discreet of birds, his experience 

 has taught the crane to value 

 this gift and put it to the best 

 use. His vigilance is rarely 

 relaxed, even when he is feeding, 

 where less thoughtful birds 

 would feel perfectly secure." 

 This wariness renders the crane 

 an exceedingly difficult bird to 

 shoot ; although the flocks fre- 

 quenting the sandbanks of the 

 Indian rivers may be readily 

 approached in a boat, to the 

 passing of which they are in- 

 different. Cranes feed regularly in the early morning, and also at other times in 

 the day, and at night; while the vast quantity of grain a flock will consume, 

 renders their visits by no means welcome to the cultivator. In sleeping, 

 they invariably stand upon one leg, with the head and neck thrust in among the 

 plumage of the back. In the bogs of Lapland the crane breeds in vast numbers ; 

 the nest being made of small twigs intertwined with long, sedgy grass, its diameter 

 being about 2 feet, and its depth several inches. 



The sarus crane {G. antigone) of India, which attains a length 

 of 52 inches, together with the nearly allied Australian crane 

 (G. australiaca), represent a second group of the genus, characterised by the longer 

 beak, and by the head and neck being bare and covered for 3 or 4 inches with 

 numerous crimson warts, from which grow a few scanty black hairs, most 

 developed down the nape. Below this the neck is whitish grey, passing gradually 

 into the blue-grey of the rest of the plumage, save the quills and inner webs of 

 the tail-feathers, which are dusky slaty. In old birds, however, the elongated 

 feathers become nearly white. The sarus is probably confined to India and Upper 

 Burma, where it is always found in the neighbourhood of water, and is less 

 gregarious than the common species, being generally seen in pairs. It is also far 

 le.ss of a grain-eating bird ; while, except when driven by drought, it does not 

 migrate. It is likewise tame and confiding, and so attached are the members of a 



VOL. IV. — 30 



CUJlilON CKANE. 



Sarus Crane. 



