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White-neckecl Cranes.



may move your breeding pair of White Necks as much as you like,

they will breed in the park, they will breed in the small enclosed

garden, and they will breed in a small aviary. Although they are

so very accommodating in this respect they never get on intimate

terms with their owner ; at least my pair does not, and I never saw

one which did.


The White Indians, and even more so the Mantchurians, will

be glad to see you, and will dance and play around you when you

come near them. The White-necks remain indifferent, and I believe

that they prefer not to see you !


Very little nest is made, and one or tw T o dry bits of grass are

all they want. Here, again, they form a great contrast to the white

Indians who make an elaborate nest of sticks near the edge of the

pond ; fetching the material from the bottom of the water, and

passing it over from one to the other.


The eggs of the White-necked Crane are almost always fertile,

and the young ones grow very fast, attended to by both parents.

The first plumage is brown, but a curious thing about this is that

almost as soon as the bird is completely feathered, the hind neck,

which was brown at first, turns a dull white in the course of a

couple of weeks. This great thing achieved, the moult or colour

change, stops for a while, and there seems to be no hurry about

changing the rest of the feathers.


The White-necked Cranes have rather a sharp penetrating

cry, which to my ear is not nearly so melodious as the cry of the

White Indian or the Mantchurian. They have a peculiar way of

walking, keeping themselves very erect. When they have small

young ones, and you come upon the family by surprise, one of the

parents feigns lameness and tumbles about in front of the intruder

as if seriously ill or wounded. If you follow him he will lead you

aivay for a good distance, then, when he thinks you are far enough

away from the young ones, he will suddenly rise on his legs, dance a

few paces as if in derision, and run away!



