58



Cranes in Captivity



pair of Australian Crane and the two Cape Crowned Cranes as he

■inadvertently steps into the area reserved to themselves by his com¬

panions, the three species being kept in one paddock.


The general favourites at first sight, with most people, are

the Crowned Cranes, of which there are two or three species.

The illustration of a pair of Crowned Cranes wading in the bed of

a small stream gives a very good idea of the beauty of these birds,

and it is the quaint-looking, stiff-plumed, top-knot which adds to the

attractiveness of them. They possess certain advantages over the

other species of Cranes in that they have, when they choose to give

vent to it, a rather more musical voice than that of Cranes generally

also, they are not nearly so destructive to growing plants as are some

of the others, although, curiously enough, Crowned Cranes seem less

fond of insect-food and more fond of growing grass-seed and grain

generally. In disposition they are quite as gentle as the more

commonly seen Demoiselle ; gentle, that is, towards their owner,! for

they are more determined at shifting trespassing Cranes of a different

species, and will even vent their displeasure by chasing the offending

bird all over the paddock. The call of these Cranes is not at all

unlike the ‘ toot ’ of a motor-trumpet being sounded a little distance

away, and those people who hear the call for the first time, without

seeing the birds, often think that there is a motor car approaching

along the by-road near the enclosure. They are distinctly greedy

birds, always rushing up to the food-pan directly it is replenished and

never allowing the others to have anything until they have quite

satisfied themselves, and will often behave in a very ‘ dog' in the

manger' fashion by mounting guard over what is left to prevent the

others having any, so that if this trait is noticed in any Cranes of

this species belonging to my readers it will be as well to provide

more than one food-pan, in order that the others may get their

food without being obliged to wait for the Crowned Cranes to

give way.


The Crowned Cranes are rather impatient of damp, and a very

valuable ‘tip’ for the aviculturist, who has any of this species in his

collection, is to make a small gravelled run in that part of the



* This is a matter of taste in music. — ED.

t This is by no means my experience with two of my Crowned Cranes. — E d.



