114 S^- Qitiniin : Some AvicitUural Notes. 



My Demoiselles were early breeders. About the middle of 

 April they always made their nest on a flat piece of ground 

 within a few yards of a stream. The nest merely consisted of 

 a small handful of birch twigs, and the eggs rested on the ground. 

 This used to be the case with some Common Cranes that I had ; 

 in their case the first egg used to be laid, and then a few bits of 

 stick and sedge arranged round it. But some of the Cranes 

 make large structures. 



Once there was a thunderstorm, and the water in the beck 

 rose and threatened to swamp the nest. The next morning 

 we found the egg, a single one that year, quite nine feet further 

 inland, and some fifteen inches higher up the slope. 



When there were two eggs, the female began to sit when the 

 first egg was laid, and, of course, there was an interval between 

 the appearances of the chicks. 



The nestling, after a few hours can stand, and during the 

 first day totters about within a yard or two of the nest, the 

 parent which is not incubating the other egg, tending it closely,, 

 brooding it when necessary ; and when it is hungry, going off 

 to forage for insects. 



At first the fly or beetle is brought right up to the -chick,, 

 but the latter soon gets stronger on its legs, and goes forward 

 to meet its parent. 



When the second chick is strong enough, the parents lead 

 both away, and they never return to the nest, but the old birds 

 are \-ery careful and clever in choosing a dry and sheltered 

 place to brood the young at night, or if rain comes on. If 

 anyone approaches, the parents get very excited, and try to 

 draw one off, crouching with spread wings, and feigning lame- 

 ness. 



When the young birds are quite strong, it is a very pretty 

 sight to see the birds four abreast, the parents outside with 

 the young between them, parading up and down through the 

 long grass, each old bird reaching out to catch an insect, and 

 offering it to its particular young one. 



Once, in spite of their extreme devotion, it was curious to- 

 see how both old birds passed over one young one which did not 

 thrive, and favoured the better bird, with the result that the 

 fittest survived. 



It is, so far as I know, very unusual that there should be any 

 irregularity in the shedding of their flight feathers by birds. The 

 rule is that they are cast once a year, and at the same season. 



Naturalist, 



