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observed consisted of two or three hundred individuals. The night is like that of Grus com- 

 munis, the wings being napped regularly and softly ; and every now and again they soar with 

 outstretched, apparently motionless wings. Arrived at the end of their journey, they remain 

 together in flocks for some time ; and even when paired they reunite in the morning and evening, 

 especially in still weather, and perform evolutions and amuse themselves by dancing in company. 

 For this purpose they select some suitable place in the steppe, usually a flat space on the banks 

 of a stream (as, for instance, the Salghir, in the Crimea), where they arrange themselves in a 

 circle, or in one or more rows, and commence their games and curious dances, which astonish 

 the spectators not a little. They dance and jump towards each other, bowing themselves in a 

 most burlesque manner, bending their necks forward, extending the plumes on the neck, and 

 depressing their wings ; others again in the meanwhile run races, and on arrival at the goal 

 return striding along gravely and quietly, whilst the rest of the assemblage greet them with 

 reiterated cries, inclinations of the head, and other demonstrations. After continuing these 

 exercises for some time, they rise in the air and, flying slowly, describe circles like Grus communis 

 and Ciconia alia. After the lapse of a few weeks these assemblages no longer take place ; and 

 the birds are then seen only in pairs." Von Heuglin, writing on its habits as observed by 

 him in North Africa, says (Orn. N.O.-Afr. p. 1256): — "This Crane migrates both by day and 

 at night, each flock passing, as a rule, not far from the river, high up in the air, in a single or 

 several broken lines, uttering a loud, harsh, trumpet-like call-note, which sounds like the word 

 Ralw. The scattered flocks take up their quarters on sandbanks, islands, and bare patches 

 between rainwater ponds or swamps, from which in the early morning they wander many miles 

 into the steppe and amongst the high ' durrah ' and grass ; they devour grain, grasshoppers, 

 worms, and also, it is said, lizards and snakes. About ten o'clock in the forenoon I have seen 

 immense flocks hurrying from the steppe to the rainwater ponds and rivers ; but some few flocks 

 remain all day in the maize-fields, where, in spite of the sentinels which they post, they are 

 not difficult of approach ; and when a flock of several hundred birds rises up, the sound of the 

 multitude of wings and the confused voices of the birds is almost deafening." 



Artzibascheff, who says (Exc. Orn. Sar. p. 72) that it breeds abundantly near Sarepta, gives 

 some details respecting its nidification, which I translate as follows : — " This Crane does not take 

 the trouble to make a nest, but scratches a small hole in the ground, in which it deposits, about 

 the middle of April, one or two eggs. In searching for the eggs of this species I have often 

 admired the keen sight of the Calmucks and some of my native collectors, without whom I 

 should have had great trouble in finding them. The male always posts himself on the watch 

 near where the female is sitting, and is so shy that, as soon as he perceives any one approach 

 within about six hundred yards or thereabouts, he immediately utters a cry of alarm, which at once 

 rouses the female ; and both move off in different directions, and pretend to be catching insects 

 with the greatest tranquillity, as if to show that they have no nest near there. In order to find 

 the eggs, it is necessary to mark the place where the female rose, and not lose sight of it for an 

 instant ; but to do this, at so great a distance, one needs the eyes of a Calmuck ; so that without 

 the assistance of these marvellously gifted men I should have had to give up all hope of finding 

 the eggs of this Crane, except by chance. More than once I have caught this bird in a trap 

 placed close to the nest, but almost always the male, who it appears is usually the first to visit 



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