—_— —_— can oie 
them. <A few pairs remain to breed in Andalucia, but 
the principal breeding-quarters of the Crane in Europe 
are the great morasses of the far north; for a most 
fascinating account of the haunts and nesting-habits of 
our bird in Lapland, I must refer my readers to the 
‘This’ of 1859, in which the late Mr. John Wolley gave 
us the result of his researches in an article that must 
remain “a joy for ever” to all ornithologists. The only 
Crane’s nest that I ever saw was empty, situated in a 
half-dry overgrown watercourse in the open marisma of 
the Guadalquivir, composed of a mass of freshwater 
plants, and conspicuous to every passer-by. ‘The eggs, 
generally two in number, are of a dull olive colour, with 
blotches and spots of rusty brown. ‘The favourite food 
of the Crane consists of the roots of corn and various 
grasses, but almost any grain is also eagerly devoured. 
In Spain it seemed to me that these birds frequented 
the cultivated lands during the daytime, and resorted to 
the marshes at night; they are very wary and difficult 
of approach by day, but many may be obtained at 
“ flighting time” as they change their quarters. In my 
opinion the flesh of a young Crane is most excellent, 
and an old one may be made into very good provend 
by skilled culinary treatment. In captivity our bird is 
delightful from its tameness and the quaint antics and 
attitudes that it assumes, and its loud trumpet-like cries 
are by no means unpleasant. If one of a captive pair 
of Cranes dies, the distress of the survivor is most 
touching to witness, and from my own experience of 
many birds in confinement I am inclined to attribute 
the palm of affectionate social instinct to the present 
species. 
