24 Bleeding of the s Canadian and ? Wattled Cranes.


In appearance, the young when hatched differed consider¬

ably from any young Cranes that I have seen. The whole body

colour was chestnut, leading to cinnamon on the breast and

belly ; bill, legs, and feet light horn ; eyes dark. Instead of the

legs being long and awkward to propel, they were quite stumpy ;

the head and neck were to all appearance two sizes too large

which gave the little creature the most absurd top-heavy look.

At five days old it was lively and active, following its parents

everywhere they went, but it remained stumpy and the same

colour for about four weeks, then a great change took place, the

head and neck fined down and the bird began to grow fast;

particularly noticeable was the remarkable rapidity with which

the legs grew. At present (Sept. 23) it leads its father in height

by at least three inches. The body plumage is dark grey;

primaries and tail black ; legs and feet dark horn ; head and neck

fawn ; eyes dark hazel ; bill red at base, darkening towards the

point. Taking into consideration its size and carriage, although

there are no traces of Wattles showing yet, the probabilities are,

that it will be like its mother. The photograph shows the young

at three weeks old with the parents, whose previous history is

worth recording.


The Canadian was bred here in 1899, and is very active

and attractive. He likes to show what he can do in dancing,

going round and round with both wings expanded, now and

again picking up a piece of turf or stick ; these he will throw up

in the air time after time and occasionally catch them in mid-air.

He has a majestic step of his own, and this, combined with his

dark grey uniform and red cap, gives one the impression of a

youthful military sergeant. However, he is not war-like, we

find him peaceful with other Cranes and various birds. On the

other hand, Mrs. Wattled likes a good fight and is not particular

what with. She arrived here in rather bad health in 1893, and

being in fully adult plumage we could not estimate her age.

When sufficiently recovered from her journey she was placed in

the company of all our other Cranes, and all went well for a few

days. Then came a tragedy ! she actually killed three very fine

Demoiselles and, when discovered, was actually getting 011 with

more. That of course spelt solitary confinement during the



