124



Miss Rosie Aederson,



came in a sort of giant hencoop, with a front of bar f wood,

several of which could be raised to let the birds out. Although

they had spent the whole time of the voyage on deck and had

weathered a terrific snowstorm, just before they got into port, the

Cranes reached us in excellent condition.


Not many of our members may have seen a Crowned

Crane, and as I think it is very uninteresting reading about a

bird when you do not know what it is like, I will try and describe

them to 3 ? ou. They are very tall long-legged birds and stand

about four feet high, the cock being rather larger than the hen,

though the colouring of both birds is practically the same. The

male bird however has a little knob of pink flesh under the

chin, though this is difficult to see unless you are very close to

him. The general colour of the long neck and body is greyish

black, but the wings and tail are white and chocolate brown. On

the head is a beautiful crest of pale golden bristle-like feathers.

This crest is very thick and stands straight up giving the birds a

very distinguished appearance. The cheeks are of bare skin and

have a distinct dividing line across them, one part being pinkish

white, the other bright carmine pink. The eyes are very pale

blue-grey, almost white, with a dark iris ; the bill is black, not

very long but sharp and pointed. From this description 3^011 will

see the Cranes are very handsome birds and they have a very

stately walk, which adds further to their fine effect. They

generally march in single file, the hen, who is the master spirit,

leading the way as they wander over the garden at will. But

this is going on a long way in my story and I must take 3 r ou back

to the time of the Cranes arrival. It was in the depth of winter

when tlie3 T came, and we feared the effect of the cold damp

weather on the birds. The best provision we could make for

them was to put them in one division of my largest aviary, that

is heated with a large coke stove in the passage running along

the back of the house.


The space at our disposal was only small, some 7 ft. by

22 ft. divided into three parts (with communicating doors)

namety, a flight and two shelters, added to this space was a

further flight joined 011 at one side and grassed over. The first

difficulty was to get the Cranes out of the coop. It was so wide



