DeEscrip- 
TION. 
CRANE HERON. Crass If. 
conclude, that these birds have forsaken our 
island. <A single bird was killed near Cam- 
bridge about three years ago, and is the only 
instance I ever knew of the crane being seen in 
this island in our time*. They were formerly 
in high esteem at our tables, for the delicacy of 
their flesh ; for they feed only on grain, herbs, 
or insects ; so have nothing of the rankness of the 
piscivorous birds of this genus. 
The weight of the crane is about ten pounds ; 
the length six feet; the bill of a darkish green, 
four inches long; and a little depressed on the top 
of the upper mandible; the top of the head co- 
vered with black bristles ; the back of the head 
bald and red, beneath which is an ash-colored 
spot; from the eyes, on each side, is a broad 
white line the whole length of the neck; the fore 
part as far as the breast is black; the quil fea- 
thers are black; the tail ash-colored, tipt with 
black; all the rest of the peace) is ash-colored. 
The legs are black. 
No author, except Gesner, takes notice of a 
large tuft of feathers that spring out of one pi- 
* Not more than four instances occur within my memory 
of the Crane having been met with in England: the first at 
Cambridge ; the second was seen by Mr. Boys, on the Medway ; 
the third also on the Medway, near Burham, in January 1794; 
the fourth, on rather slight authority, in Cardiganshire. 
J L. 
