94 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



the afternoon, they often congregate in vast flocks. They usually spend the night 

 on a sandbank surrounded by water, where they are comparatively safe from 

 harm. The note of the Crane is a loud trumpet-like cry, which may be heard 

 for an immense distance under favourable conditions. This note is variously 

 modulated during the breeding season. The flesh of the Crane is by no means 

 unpalatable, when the bird is killed under favourable conditions for the table. 



Nidification. — The Crane begins to breed rather early in the year, 

 although the actual time varies a good deal with the latitude of the nesting 

 grounds. Thus in Central Europe its eggs are laid about the end of April or the 

 beginning of May, but in Lapland they are about a month later. The nest is usually 

 built in the fastnesses of a swamp, and is sometimes a huge bulky structure from 

 two to five feet across. It is most probable that the Crane pairs for life; indeed, 

 there is direct evidence that the same nest is used annually in many cases. It is 

 made of sedges, rushes, branches of heath, and twigs, and lined with grass. 

 Some nests tower high above the shallow water or swampy ground, others are 

 almost level with the surrounding surface. If the nest is small- as it usually is 

 when made on a dry hummock in the swamps — it is little more than a trampled 

 hollow, lined with bits of dry vegetation. The eggs are generally two in number, 

 but instances are on record where three have been found. They vary from 

 brownish-buff to greenish-buff in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with rich 

 reddish-brown, pale brown, and violet-grey. The shell is rather rough and pitted. 

 They measure on an average 3'9 inches in length by 2" 5 inches in breadth. 

 Incubation is said to last a month, and appears to be performed by the female. 

 She is very wary in leaving and returning to her nest, and the male keeps 

 sentinel over the place ready to give the alarm at the approach of danger, and to 

 defend his home against intruders weaker than himself. One brood only is 

 reared in the year, and the young, clothed in brown down, are soon able to follow 

 their parents. They appear to keep together until the migration period arrives, 

 when more gregarious instincts are developed, and for the remainder of the 

 autumn and winter live in flocks of varying size. 



Diagnostic characters.- Grus, with the general colour of the plumage 

 slate-grey, including the inner secondaries ; the throat slate-grey like the cheeks ; 

 the sides of the neck white, and the tertials black, developed into elongated, 

 curly, bushy plumes. Occipital region bare of feathers and covered with scarlet 

 warty skin (adult). Length, about 43 inches, 



