14 THE SNOW-WREATH OR SIBERIAN CRANE. 
neighbourhood ; and, though growing more and more wary (if 
possible) each time they are fired at, and disappearing for a day 
or two from any “jhil,” where an attempt has been made to 
kill or capture them, they never seem to forsake the locality until 
the change of temperature warns them to retreat to their cool 
northern homes. Week after week I have noticed and 
repeatedly fired at, sometimes even slightly wounded, particular 
birds, which have nevertheless remained about the place their 
full time—nay, I have twice now killed the young bird early in 
the season, and the parents, one by one, at intervals of nearly a 
couple of months. 
The Buhelias, a native caste of fowlers, (and, I fear I must 
add, thieves) of whom there are many in the neighbourhood, 
and who are keen observers of all wild animals, assured me that, 
as far back as any of them could remember (namely, for at least 
the previous fifty years), parties of the White Crane, or as they 
call them “ karekhurs’* have been in the habit of yearly spending 
their winters in the same locality. 
Though occasionally seen in larger flocks, it is usual to find 
either a pair of old ones accompanied by a single young one, 
or small parties of five or six, which then, as far as I can 
judge, consist exclusively of birds of the second year. 
The fully adult birds are even, when they first arrive, of snowy 
whiteness, and each pair is, almost without exception, accom- 
panied by a young one, which, when first seen, is of a sandy or 
buffy tint throughout, and very noticeably smaller than its 
parents. The males are considerably larger and heavier than 
the females, the adults of the former weighing up to 1glbs., but 
of the latter only, as far as my experience goes, to about 16lbs. 
* Professor Max Muller justly ridicules the excessive length to which what he 
denominates the *‘ bow-wow theory’”’ of the origin of words, has been pushed by 
some comparative etymologists; but, in the case of the Cranes, the Hindu names 
in use, in this portion of Northern India, clearly owe their origin to the cries of the 
several birds. Thus Grus communis is called ‘‘ Kooroonch,” or ‘ Koorch,” 
Anthropoides virgo, ‘* Kurrkurra,” and G. leucogeranus, ‘* Karekhur,” each of these 
names, when pronounced by anative, conveying to my idea an appreciable imita- 
tion of the cry of the particular species it serves to designate. Not so, however, thinks 
Mr. Brooks. He says :—‘‘ With regard to the notes of Gras leucogeranus how the native 
can imagine that their name ‘ Karekhur,’ or, as I should call it, ‘ Carecur,’ ex- 
presses any one of them, I cannot conceive. The notes are all simply whistles, from a 
mellow one to a peculiar feeble shrill shivering whistle, if I may so express it. No 
written word will express the note of this species, nor give the faintest idea of it. 
I watched a flock of these fine birds for a long time, yesterday, as they fed in a marsh, 
in company with about a dozen of G. antigone and three of G. cinerea. I found it 
impossible to get within shot of the White Cranes, nor could I get them driven over 
me as I sat in ambush; for, as soon as they take wing, they immediately begin to 
soar, and circle round and round till they attain a height far above the reach of any 
shot ; they then fly straight away, uttering their peculiar whistle, which, though weak, 
compared with the call of other Cranes, can still be heard a mile off, or even more. 
It is a magnificent bird, and I think, the most graceful of the group in its attitudes. 
The species is abundant, being found in large flocks ; and the eggs might be obtained 
from Russian sources. The plumage is so very compact and Swan-like that it must 
go very far north to breed, where perhaps its snowy plumage harmonizes with the 
still unmelted snow as it sits upon its nest.” ‘ 
