Orus virgo. 29 



Choka, flocks of several hundreds may be seen on tte wing at once ; their 

 cry can be heard when they are out of sight :" {Ibis, 1861, p. 243.) 



In his " Notes on the Habits of some Indian Birds/' published in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1855, Lieut. Burgess remarks 

 that : 



This orane visits the Dukhun during the cold weather, but sometimes remains as 

 late as May. I saw a large flook of them on the river Seena, near Waterphul, as late 

 as 24th May, and was told that one had been brought into the cantonments of 

 Ahmednuggur as late as the 12th June, but I never heard of any remaining to breed. 

 The greater portion leave the Dukhun at the end of March or beginning of April, and 

 return at the end of November. They feed in the grain-fields, retiring to the larger 

 rivers about ten o'clock, where they may be seen standing in large flocks in the 

 shallows. 



[Mr. Hume saw the Demoiselle Crane once in Sindh, close to the Muncher 

 Lake. According to Mr. R. M. Adam it visits the Sambhur Lake in large 

 flocks during the cold weather, and Capt, Butler says the sam.e of Northern 

 Gruzerat, where it arrives about the end of the first week in October. 

 " Stray Feathers," i., 235, 395 ; v., 232.] 



In the Bengal Sporting Magazine, for February, 1837, a pair are figured, 

 somewhat rudely perhaps, but the flight of a descending flock is charac- 

 teristically represented. In the accompanying notice of the species the 

 author writes : , 



The coolen possesses a recommendation not common to all birds — namely, it may 

 not only please the taste of the lovers of the fowling piece, but likewise suit the palate 

 of the epicure. They are almost always to be seen in large flights (similar to those 

 of geese), frequenting, in the daytime, the large beds of sand of the Jumna, Ohumbul, 

 Soane, and other rivers of Western India, and at night feeding in the corn-flelds, 

 which they damage very considerably. They are very shy and difficult to approach in 

 flights, and there is always one of them on the look-out/or the enemy. I have, however, 

 sometimes found one or two alone on the skirts of a jewa/r field, and thus an occa- 

 sional bird may be shot. Occasionally I have seen a stray bird or two feeding along 

 with the saras. They fight furiously when on the ground wounded, and the sportsman 

 should be careful in not laying hold of the bird in too great a hurry. As a bird of game 

 flavour it is inferior to none in India, not even excepting the bustard and florikan 

 lOtis nigriceps and 0. deliciosa], and to the lover of a real delicacy the coolen is well 

 worth the trouble in obtaininar. These birds come in about the beginning of November, 

 and continue during the cold season, but disappear altogether on the approach of the 

 hot winds. 



When this bird is struck by a bhyri (Falco peregrinus), remarks Dr. 

 Jerdon, "its mate generally comes to its assistance. The bhyri always 

 strikes it on the back and wings, to avoid being wounded by the sharp 

 inner claw, with which, if struck on the head, it generally manages to 

 inflict severe wounds on the breast of the falcon." He adds : " The inner 

 claw of all these cranes is much hooked, and exceedingly sharp, and it 

 always in self-defence strikes with its claw, and never with the bill." We 

 have seen that the American White Crane [Q. americana) can use its 



