Storks ^ Cranes 243 



A gun, with crass ignorance behind it, is a 

 nasty weapon. In this instance also, it was pleaded 

 that they were mistaken for " urns " ; though why, 

 even then, they should have been slaughtered, I 

 fail to understand. There was no trout stream to 

 protect. 



And to think they were herons, must have 

 meant that he knew more or less what those birds 

 are like. 



Whoever saw herons with snow-white plumage, 

 black wings, and red legs and bills ! 



To the bucolic mind of that class of farmer 

 apparently any biggish bird that owns long legs and 

 bill is an " urn," and must consequently be shot. 



In August (1900) five white storks, which had 

 remained at home during the summer, were ruth- 

 lessly shot by a local doctor when, on crossing out of 

 Berkshire to the sea for their migration, they settled 

 to rest on the tower of the Gosport waterworks. 

 Although I twice wrote to ask for an explanation 

 and to remonstrate, I received no answer ! ! 



On these occasions, insult is certainly added to 

 injury ! 



After the murder of my Sarus, I purchased a 

 splendid pair of Australian " native companion " 

 cranes, as they are called. 



Closely resembling the Sarus, they are not quite 

 so tall, and their colouring is perhaps a grey of a 

 softer and more pearly tint. They have the same 

 bare head, covered with scarlet papillose crustations 

 on the skin, and black bristles. 



