BUSTARDS AND CRANES 



427 



Fholo ky Scholastic Phot, 



SERIEMA 



A South Americati bircd^ at one time iupposed to be related to the 

 birdi oj pre^ 



204 cranes figured in the menu. Later, it is 



interesting to note, they seem to have fallen 



somewhat into disfavour, since we read of a 



Dr. Muffet, of Wiltshire, somewhere about 1570, 



declaring cranes to be " distinctly unfit for sound 



men's tables. . . . Yet being 3'oung, killed 



with a goshawk, and hanged two or three days 



by the heels, eaten with hot gelentine, and 



drowned in sack, it is permitted unto indifferent 



stomachs." 



The nest is placed on the ground, and 



contains from two to three eggs. The young 



are covered with down, and, like plovers and 



bustards, run as soon as hatched. 



The cranes, like many other birds, notably 



some of the Plover Tribe, occasionally indulge 



in spirited outbursts of dancing. Mr. Nelson, 



writing of the birds of Alaska, tells how one 



day he was watching two cranes enjoying 



themselves in this manner. The male suddenly 



" wheeled his back towards the female and 



made a low bow, his head nearly touching the 



ground, and ending by a quick leap into the air. Another pirouette brought him facing his 



charmer, whom he greeted with a still deeper bow, his wings meanwhile hanging loosely 



by his side. She replied by an answering bow and hop, and then each tried to outdo the 



other in a series of spasmodic hops and starts, mixed with a set of comically grave and 



ceremonious bows." 



Cranes vary much in general appearance. Some species have much of the skin round the 



head bare and brilliantly coloured, such as the Sarus Crane of India and the Crowned Crane. 

 The White and Whooping Cranes are birds of wondrous beauty. The first-named species 



has been not inaptly called the " lily of birds." The whole plumage, with the exception of 



the black quills, is white. The 

 legs are red, as is also the 

 face. Dr. Coues, an American 

 ornithologist of great repute, 

 relates how he once mistook 

 one of these birds — the 

 WhOOPING-CRANE — for an 

 antelope. He and a com- 

 panion saw what they " took 

 to be an antelope standing 

 quietlyfeeding, with his broad 

 white stern toward us, and 

 only about 500 3'ards off. We 

 attempted for at least fifteen 

 minutes to ' flag ' the creature 

 up to us, waving a handker- 

 chief on a ramrod. . . . This 

 proving unavailing, my friend 

 proceeded to stock the game, 

 and crawled on his belly for 

 about half the distance before 



Phott hy L. Mtdlani, T.Z.S.'] 



INcrlh FinchUy 



WHITE-BACKED TRUMPETERS 



The trumpeters are 'very aberrant members of the Crane Tribe 



