Balearica pavonina. 21 



discover no recorded instance of its occurrence in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, 

 or in Eastern Barbary; nor does Canon Tristram include it in his list of 

 the "Birds of the Sahara." [In the Ibis, 1860, p. 76, Canon Tristram, in 

 his account of the Ornithology of Northern Africa (The Sahara), states 

 that he " once and once only observed a pair of these fine cranes on the 

 dry sands of the Guerah-el-Tharfj in the month of April.] In the 

 "Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de I'Algerie," we read that "ce n'est qu' 

 accidentellement que la Balearique couronn^e a ete rencontr^ en Algerie." 

 So far as I can learn, it would appear to be almost, if not quite, 

 exclusively an inhabitant of Western Africa, and a better account of it 

 than any other with which I am acquainted is that given in Griffith's 

 English edition of Cuvier's " Animal Kingdom," which I abridge to some 

 extent as follows : 



This bird, which was brought into Europe about the fifteenth century, from that 

 part of the African coast then discovered, stands about four feet high. It is an 

 inhabitant of the vrarmeat climates. It is found especially in the countries of Grambra 

 [Gambia ?], on the Gold Coast, in Fida, at Cape Verd, in Whida, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of the river of Ponny, in Guinea. The Africans, who hold it in high veneration, 

 call it the herald of the Fetish, because it makes a noise with its wing (P) something 

 like the sound of a French horn. This bird comes sometimes into the inland to feed 

 on herbs and gather grains. It also frequents inundated places to catch small fish, 

 and feeds, moreover, on earth-worms and insects. Its ordinary walk is slow ; but when 

 it avails itself of the assistance of the wind, and extends its wings, it can run 

 with great swiftness. Its flight is also greatly elevated, powerful, and sustaining. It 

 perches in some exposed place in the open air for the purpose of sleeping, like the 

 peacock, which it somewhat resembles in its cry. It has been also very gratuitously 

 termed Qrus halea/riea, for nothing proves that there is any analogy between it and the 

 Balearic crane of Pliny, or that it ever inhabited the islands from which the name is 

 derived. 



The crowned crane is a mild and peaceable bird in its disposition ; it approaches man 

 with confidence and even pleasure ; and we are assured that at Gape Yerd it is half 

 domesticated, and will come to eat grain with the poultry. Eufibn, who brought up in 

 his garden an individual which was sent him from Guinea, says that it used to peck the 

 hearts of lettuces and other plants, but the food which it preferred was boiled rice. 

 Besides the sonorous cry, resembling the sound of a trumpet or horn, it also makes . a 

 sort of internal noise, somewhat like unto, though louder, than the clucking of a hen. 



[Mr. H. T. Ussher, writing on the Ornithology of the Gold Coast, states 

 {Ibis, 1874, p. 73) : 



I have observed one or two specimens of this Crane up the river Volta ; but it is by 

 no means common. In other districts, as on the rivers Gambia and Niger, it is of 

 frequent occurrence, and is easily domesticated, forming a very beautiful addition to 

 the grounds of the houses of the settlers.] 



In the dried-up marshes of the Eegnegroes this bird is mostly found in 

 company with the white-necked stork {Gieonia leucocephala) , which is a 

 species common to the Indian region and parts of Africa. It (the former) 

 is there not very rare from January to May {Ibis, 1864, p. 480). It is one 



