24 THE COMMON CRANE. 
hundred are not uncommon, and ten or a dozen may be secured 
at one time by shots fired out of a boat which has been allowed 
to .drift softly down alongside the sand bank they are occupying. 
On returning from feeding in the fields they fly round and 
round high in the air, apparently examining carefully the place 
at which they intend to alight, all the while trumpeting loudly. 
Sometimes they will descend rapidly, all turning and twisting, 
almost like wild Geese, but generally they come down with long 
sweeps gracefully and gently, their long legs hanging down 
ready to touch the ground some time before they actually reach it. 
Their note is a fine, clear, trumpet-like call, not so loud as 
that of the Sarus, but clearer and more musical / think. It can 
be heard distinctly when the bird is a mere speck in the sky. 
Especially after having been surprised and shot at, and several 
killed, flocks will rise in a body to an extraordinary height, and 
there keep trumpeting, circling round and round, almost out of 
sight, but well within hearing, for a considerable time. This is 
particularly the case when there are several wounded birds on 
the ground which are being chased. 
A winged bird runs very well, and I have often seen a couple 
of boatmen pretty well out of breath before they could come 
up with one, and then when they did, fairly non-plussed by the 
vigorous darts that the fugitive, once at bay, made at them with 
his strong beak. A pretty severe wound may be received by 
incautiously closing with a wounded bird, but a slight blow on 
the side of the neck, with ever so thin a walking stick or cane, 
finishes the struggle at once. When thus pursued they will 
occasionally take to the water and swim, not gracefully, 
indeed, much like a Flamingo, jerking their long necks with 
each stroke, but with greater ease and rapidity than could 
have been expected. Even when overtaken thus swimming they 
will make a desperate resistance. 
The force with which a dead Crane falls at times is surprising. - 
I had crossed the Jumna, late one evening, after some Geese 
which we saw sitting on the opposite bank, but they were too 
wise to await my arrival ; then I saw another flock browsing on 
the young wheat some little distance from the shore, and as it 
was getting dusk and you can at that time get nearer Geese on 
land than at any other, I trudged wearily after them, but before I 
could reach the place it had become pitch dark, and we heard 
them go off cackling without being able to get a shot. As we 
walked back to the boat, we became aware that an enormous 
flock of Cranes, that had been trumpeting all the while, were 
directly over our head. I wanted to unload my big gun, and so 
fired at random straight up. I had hardly recovered from the recoil 
of the old cannon, as my friends christened it, when a peculiar 
rushing sound caught my ear (luckily the sound out-sped the 
bird). I just started back to listen, when with a “scrush” a dead 
Crane plopped on to the ground at my feet precisely where I 
