THE CRANE. 13] 



haps at the branch of that river, previously mentioned by Dr. 

 Fleming, who found the species " breeding on the islands in the 

 Tummel at Moulincarn, between Dunkeld and Blair Athol."* Mr. 

 St. John, too, states that many breed "far inland, on the stony 

 banks of the Eindhom, Spey, and other rivers. "t Montagu 

 imagined that this bird never left the sea-shore. 



Sir William Jardine, in a note contributed to his edition of 

 Wilson's American Ornithology (vol. iii. p. 34), gives a highly 

 interesting account of the habits of these birds, when they con- 

 gregate in extraordinary numbers — " many thousands" — on some 

 part of the British coast ; the locality, however, not being named. 

 I have never seen any approximation to such numbers on the 

 coast of Ireland. 



THE CRANE, 



Grus cinerea, Bechst. 

 Ardea grus, Linn. 



Is an extremely rare visitant. 



As has been remarked by Dr. Scouler, in a " Notice of Animals 

 which have disappeared from Ireland during the period of Au- 

 thentic History •" % — "The crane [Grus cinerea) was formerly so 

 plentiful that, according to Giraldus, flocks consisting of a hun- 

 dred individuals were extremely common." The words of Giral- 

 dus are — " In tanto vero numerositate se grues ingerunt, ut uno 

 in grege centum et circiter numerum frequenter invenies," (Top. 

 Hibern. p. 705.) If the bird meant by Giraldus were the true 

 crane, and not the heron, which is commonly called by that name 

 in Ireland at the present day, the stately bird would seem to have 

 been once as common here as it was in early times in England. 

 To that country it is now a very rare visitant. It would seem, 



* Hist. Brit. Anim. (1828.) 

 f Tour in Sutherland, vol. i. p. 223. 



| Journal of the Geological Society of Dublin, vol. i. p. 224 (Part 3). 



K 2 



