140 THE GIGANTIC CRANE. 



with another, he immediately darted upon the guilty 

 parties, and attacking them with the greatest anger 

 and fierceness, put them to flight, and followed 

 them : whether he killed his faithless partner or 

 not was unknown, hut she never returned; and the 

 deserted widower, after occasionally visiting his nest 

 for a day or two, finally quitted it, and disappeared 

 altogether. It is not improbable, indeed, that simi- 

 lar suspicions or prejudices may hare been the cause 

 of some of the mysterious meetings already men- 

 tioned, in which individuals were put to death. 



Of this tribe, there is one which, from its extra- 

 ordinary size, shape, and appearance, deserves to be 

 particularly noticed. It is called the Gigantic Crane 

 (Ardea argila), a native of the East Indies, and 

 was the first of birds to meet the eye of Bishop 

 Heber, on his landing in India. " In the morning, 

 as the day broke/' says he, " we were much struck 

 by the singular spectacle before us. Besides the 

 usual apparatus of a place of arms, the walks, roofs, 

 and ramparts of the fort swarmed with gigantic 

 birds, the Hurgila, larger than the largest Turkey, 

 and twice as tall as the Heron, which, in some 

 respects, they much resemble, except that they have 

 a large blue and red pouch under the lower bill, in 

 which, we were told, they keep such food as they 

 cannot eat at the moment. These birds share with 

 the jackalls, who enter the fort through the drains, 

 the post of scavenger; but unlike them, instead of 

 shunning mankind day and night, they lounge about 

 with perfect fearlessness all day long, and almost 

 jostled us from our paths." The bishop's informa- 

 tion, however, respecting this pouch, is not correct ; 



