355 



near Larnaca, in Cyprus, in April 1875. Canon Tristram, however, did not notice this Crane 

 during his sojourn in Palestine. In Africa Grus virgo has a very wide range. Captain Shelley 

 says (B. of Egypt, p. 264) : — " This Crane ranges throughout Egypt and Nubia, but is far less 

 plentiful than the common Crane, and nearly as shy. On the 2nd of April I met with a large 

 flock near Benisouef, when, after in vain trying to stalk them for more than an hour, I obtained 

 a long shot as they flew over my head. I am not aware of having seen them upon any other 

 occasion." According to Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub, in the cold season vast swarms of these 

 Cranes frequent the Blue and White Nile, Kordofan, Darfur, and the neighbouring districts of the 

 eastern Sudan. They arrive about the middle of October, at which time they are in full moult. 

 It is worthy of note that Mr. R. Hartmann (J. f. Orn. 1863, p. 462) saw a flock in May on sand- 

 banks on the Bahr-el-agraq, in Lower Sennaar, and was assured by the natives that some 

 individuals remain there throughout the rainy season, and small flocks are seen with other 

 waders. Loche says that this Crane breeds in the vast sand plains in Southern Algeria >" 

 Mr. Taczanowski saw a few in the desert near Biskra; Mr. Salvin met with it on several 

 occasions towards the eastern extremity of the marsh of Zana ; and Canon Tristram, in his 

 notes on the ornithology of N. Africa (Ibis, 1860, p. 76), writes : — "A small flock of this graceful 

 and interesting bird might generally be seen quitting one margin of a salt pond as we approached 

 the opposite edge. My acquaintance being so distant, I can only add my testimony to the truth 

 of their attachment to the Terpsichorean art from the habits of four kept in the courtyard of 

 General Yussuf at Blidah, which I have seen performing a stately minuet in concert for an hour 

 together." 



Referring to its occurrence in Tangier, Colonel Irby says (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 181): — "The 

 only note which Favier has relative to this handsome Crane is that ' it is scarce and seldom 

 obtained near Tangier, passing northwards without making any stay, during March, April, and 

 May.' Favier's successor at Tangier evidently considered this species a rare bird ; for he asked 

 fifteen dollars (over £3) for a specimen ; and at that price it is likely to continue for some time 

 on his hands. He stated that the local name was ' Bou-gernan ' (father of thistles) ; but if the 

 bird be as rare as Favier implied, how could it bear a local name'?" It ranges tolerably far 

 south in Africa; for Dr. Livingstone met with it on the Zambesi, and it has also (Zool. 1875, 

 p. 4510) been observed in Natal. 



In Asia the Demoiselle Crane is found as far east as China. Dr. Severtzoff says that it breeds 

 in Turkestan. But it is rare in Sindh; for Mr. Hume remarks that he only once saw it there. 

 According to Dr. Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 666), it "is found throughout the greater part of 

 India, is more rare in the extreme south, and is never seen in Malabar or in Lower Bengal : 

 one writer says that it is never met with below Dinapore. It is a cold-weather visitor generally, 

 only coming late in October; and its arrival, like that of the common Crane, is hailed with joy 

 as a sure sign that the cold weather is indeed come. It associates in numerous flocks, from fifty 

 to five hundred, and chiefly frequents the vicinity of rivers, as it invariably, according to my own 

 experience, betakes itself during the heat of the day to rivers to drink and rest, and never to 

 tanks and jheels, as the Sarus and common Crane do. One writer, however, states that he has 

 seen and shot them in a jheel. It is very destructive to grain-fields, especially to wheat, in 

 Central India, and to chenna (Cicer arietinum) in the Deccan." Mr. Hume, however, writes 



