THE DEMOISELLE CRANE. 38 
continually come down recklessly within easy shot, and once 
when having fired at a flock high over head, on the plain near 
the Bhurtenan Railway Station, one bird dropped suddenly 
after the flock had gone on two or three hundred yards, a 
second one dashed down along with it, and seemed, as we ran 
up, to be endeavouring to rouse its lifeless mate. Despite the 
natural shyness of these birds, this faithful comrade did not 
take wing till we were within twenty yards, and even then, 
though the rest of the flock were out of sight, hung high in air, 
circling and calling above us fora long time. It struck me at 
the moment that had these been Common Cranes the flock 
would zot have gone on, but would have remained circling 
over head, at any rate until the second bird had been shot or 
had rejoined the party ; and I was led to suspect, though it is idle 
generalizing from a solitary case, that in this species possibly 
the domestic ties are stronger and the tribal ones weaker than in 
the Common Crane. Certainly I can say this, that in Upper 
India this latter species keeps for the whole cold season in 
much the same flocks ; while of the Demoiselle, the flocks are 
constantly splitting up and re-uniting, so that where you see 2,000 
one day, there are only perhaps fifty the next, and five hundred 
the third, and so on ; whereas for inonths together you recognize, 
or fancy you do, the parties of the Common Cranes by their size. 
Moreover, these latter more habitually and persistently (even 
though repeatedly shot at) frequent the same neighbourhood, 
whereas the Demoiselle is as inconstant as her name implies, 
and rarely remains attached to the same locality for many 
weeks running. 
Though I have found animal food similar* to that devoured 
by the Common Crane in the gizzards of the present species, 
it has always been in small quantities, and the great bulk of 
the food in all the specimens I have examined has always 
proved to be grain and green vegetable matter, and I may add 
that mest of those I have eaten, killed on rivers, proved just 
as good eating as the CommonCrane. They leave us in the 
Doab, as a rule, before the Ist of April, and I have no record 
of any specimen having been killed later than the 20th of 
April, and that was near Jhilum. 
Their habits and food vary a good deal in different parts of 
_the country. Mr. G. Vidal writes :— 
“The Demoiselle Crane is abundant in Sattara in the valleys 
of the Krishna, Nira and Yerla Rivers, and further east. They 
avoid the vicinity of the Sahyadri Ghats, and are never found 
in the Southern Konkan. They arrive in large flocks usually 
in December, and for the first few weeks of their arrival spend 
nearly all their time on the wing, seldom, except perhaps at 
night, alighting on the fields. They descend usually to the 
* 
_ Except fishes ; I have never found these in the stomachs of this present 
species, 
