CRANES AT CHRISTMAS 319 



authors also that have written of it unanimously 

 report." 



It may be safely asserted, then, that the Crane 

 has not been known to breed in England for more 

 than two centuries. The drainage of their haunts in 

 the fens, and the introduction of shoulder guns, 

 with which they could be killed more easily and 

 frequently than with the crossbow or with hawks, 

 hawking also being then on the decline in England, 

 are the causes which have no doubt chiefly operated 

 to banish this fine bird from our island. It is now 

 only met with as an occasional visitor in winter, or 

 during the periods of its migration in spring and 

 autumn. 



We are no longer able to look forward at 

 Christmas time to the appearance of a Crane "in a 

 dish," but it is interesting to glance over the records 

 which have come down to us, testifying to its 

 former abundance, and the estimation in which it 

 was once held. 



