GRUIDAE 253 



and legs outstretched, though this is ^-aried by countless elegant 

 evolutions and gyrations, as they rise higher and higher until 

 they become mere specks in the heavens, and finally disappear 

 from sight. The characteristic utterance is a harsh guttural or 

 resonant trumpeting sound, uttered on the ground with the head 

 thrown back and the bill open, or repeated incessantly at great 

 elevations ; but the Whooping Crane has a clear, piercing cry, 

 the Asiatic White Crane a feeble but mellow whistle, and the 

 Crowned Cranes a plaintive but fairly sonorous set of notes. 

 The varying calibre of the voice has been thought to be con- 

 nected with the convolutions of the trachea mentioned above, 

 the young giving vent to a weak pipe or trill. Virgil's lines 

 concerning the noise made before rain, and the flight, are well- 

 known to Latin scholars. The food consists of grain, pulse, 

 acorns, shoots, flowers, roots, tubers, bulbs, and the like, with the 

 occasional addition of small mammals and birds, reptiles, amphi- 

 bians, worms, insects, and even fish ; the members of this Family, 

 however, dislike wading, and only swim under compulsion. Feed- 

 ing chiefly in the morning and evening, when they post sentinels, 

 as Eooks do, they often stand or doze upon one leg, with the head 

 drawn back upon the shoulders. Cranes, which are said to pair for 

 life, return to the same breeding haunts annually, where they 

 either construct a large fabric of reeds, rushes, and aquatic 

 herbage, or use straw and small twigs for their nest. The coni- 

 cal pile, with its moderate depression on the top, is commonly 

 placed in shallows, fresh materials being added if the water 

 rises. Several species, on the other hand, merely scrape a hole in 

 marshy ground, on dry plains, among standing corn or grass, or 

 on sandy beaches, while occasionally reed- beds are selected. The 

 eggs, two, or rarely three in number, are generally creamy 

 white, olive-brown or buff, with reddish-brown, red, or purplish- 

 grey spots and blotches ; those of the Indian Sarus Cranes have 

 a bluish- or greenish-white ground, while those of the Crowned 

 Cranes are not uncommonly plain bluish-white. The male is 

 said to incubate in some cases, and both parents tend the young 

 carefully for a considerable time, though the latter run from the 

 shell ; the female sits with her head drawn in upon her shoulders, 

 and is usually loth to leave her charge. When wounded these 

 birds are very dangerous, fighting boldly with bill and wings. 

 They are very palatable when fed on grain, the breast in particular 



