522 CRANE. 
On the spring-passage this species sometimes visits the Feeroes, 
and it wanders to the north-east of Norway, while it breeds in the 
morasses in the south of that country, as well as in Sweden, Lap- 
land, Finland, Russia (down to the Black Sea), Poland (especially 
on the Vistula), Northern Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Danubian 
Provinces, Turkey, Italy (Venetia), and Spain (Andalucia). Its 
loud trumpet-like note may be heard over the greater part of Europe 
from the beginning of March onward, announcing its return from 
the south and Africa, in which its winter range extends to Abyssinia. 
In December 1892, the Khalifa handed to his captive, Slatin Pasha, 
a capsule taken from the neck of a Crane killed in the Sudan, 
containing a statement that this bird had.been bred and liberated 
on a specified estate in South Russia. Eastward the Crane can be 
traced across Asia up to lat. 65° N. in summer, and to Japan, China, 
Northern India &c. during the cold season ; Prjevalski, when at an 
elevation of 16,000 feet, observed flock after flock crossing the lofty 
ranges of Central Asia on migration, at such an enormous altitude 
above him that the birds themselves were scarcely visible ! 
The nest is placed on slightly raised ground in a marsh, and the 
eggs, usually 2, though occasionally 3 in number, are of an olive- 
grey colour, blotched with reddish-brown: measurements 3°8 by 
26 in. They are laid towards the end of April in Spain, but in 
Lapland Wolley did not find them till a month later. The food 
consists of grass, grain, pulse, acorns, the tubers of the sweet 
potato, water-melons &c., with beetles and other insects in winter ; 
while I have seen a Crane in captivity capture and swallow a Sparrow. 
The adult has a red warty patch on the crown ; general plumage 
slate-grey ; inner secondaries long, drooping, and bluish-black in 
colour. Length 45 in.; wing 21 in. The male is larger and rather 
darker than the female. The young have no red on the head ; the 
upper plumage is greyish-brown, and the hind plumes are short. 
Breeding does not take place till the third year. 
A male example of the Demoiselle Crane, Grus virgo, is said to 
have been shot at Deerness, East Mainland, Orkney, on May 14th 
1863, 2 companion bird being pursued, but not obtained (Zool. 
p. 8692). This inhabitant of Africa, Asia, and the south of Europe, 
has wandered as far north as Sweden and Heligoland; it is.also 
frequently kept in confinement. An African Crowned Crane, 
Balearica pavonina, was mobbed to death by the populace on the 
Sabbath-day, September 17th 1871, near Dalry in Ayrshire. 
