Family GRUID^. Genus Grus. 



COMMON CRANE. 



GRUS COMWUmS—Be/:Mevi. 



Geographical Distribution.— ^r//«/z .• For more than 

 three hundred years the Crane has ceased to breed in our islands, 

 and for little less a period has ceased to visit them in winter 

 with its wonted regularity. Its only stronghold in England 

 appeared to be the swamps and fens of the eastern counties. It 

 is now only a rare and accidental wanderer on migration to 

 England, of less frequent appearance on the mainland of Scot- 

 land, and of still less in Ireland. It is of frequent occurrence 

 in the Orkneys, and still more so in the Shetlands. The year 

 1869 is remarkable for the visits of this bird to our islands. As 

 regards recent Irish appearances, a male was shot in County 

 Down in May, 1882, and two were seen (one of which was shot) 

 in County Mayo in January, 1884. During the twelfth and 

 fourteenth centuries it is said to have bred commonly in the bogs 

 of the Emerald Isle. Foreign : Palaearctic region ; parts of 

 Oriental region in winter. Breeds in localities suited to its 

 requirements throughout Europe and Northern Asia. It is 

 occasionally seen at the Faroes on passage. In Scandinavia and 

 Russia it breeds locally up to lat. 68° ; in West Siberia no higher 

 than the Arctic Circle ; whilst in the valley of the Yenesay it does 

 not appear to have been met with beyond lat. 60" Although 

 not met with hitherto in Eastern Siberia, it is recorded from 

 Kamtschatka by Pallas, and breeds in Russian Turkestan, the 

 Baikal country, and the Amoor valley. On passage it occurs in 

 Mongolia, North China, and Japan, and is a winter visitor to 

 South China and Northern India. Once more returning to the 

 west we find it wintering in Persia and Palestine, various parts of 



