314 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANTMALS 



protected from the vicissitudes of the climate. Saras cranes are much 

 given to fighting among themselves and with others, and care should 

 be taken to isolate the ill-tempered ones. Jackals and other larger 

 predatory animals are great enemies of animals that cannot defend 

 themselves, and the smaller cranes are among them ; hence the necessity 

 of shutting them in every night. 



Food.— Cranes are usually fed on grains of various kinds, soaked or 

 dry, according to individual taste, and vegetables ; but some of them find 

 a great deal of their own food, consisting of frogs, lizards, small reptiles, 

 fresh-water shells, earth-worms, &c. This shows the kind of accommoda- 

 tion they must have. The white and the crowned oranes do not appear 

 to care much for this kind of diet. 



Transport. — Half a dozen or more saras or other cranes are fre- 

 quently brought down to Calcutta from Lucknow and other up-country 

 stations in wicker cages, all being hooded with a piece of cloth to pre- 

 vent their pecking at each other. The birds surfer much, as they can 

 neither eat nor drink properly during the time the journey lasts. Demoi- 

 selle cranes are not much given to pecking at each other or anybody, 

 and therefore seldom require hooding. When they are to be sent to 

 far countries and the journey to last for a considerable time over the 

 sea, no wicker arrangement will do, but a light strong plank cage of 

 suitable size should be provided ; the front must be made of wire netting 

 to prevent the birds putting out their beaks, and a screen provided for 

 letting down in bad weather ; unless they have lived peacefully for 

 some time and their temper is well known, saras and white cranes 

 should not be placed in pairs, but all separately. 



Nothing particular is known about their ailments in captivity. 



Observations on the habits of cranes. 



A saras crane is fond of living in the neighbourhood of water, and 

 so are the demoiselle, snow-wreath, and the Australian cranes ; it is never 

 shy, timid, or suspicious, but soon becomes tame and confiding, so that 

 it readily comes to the side of the enclosure to be fed and caressed, not 

 unfrequently evincing great pleasure at the notice taken of it by per- 

 forming many amusing antics with outstretched wings and accompanied 

 by a low, subdued trumpeting ; its purring is also expressive of pleasure. 

 A saras of a bad disposition is, however, not uncommon ; it appears to 

 exist only, as it were, for pecking at everything, bird, beast, and man ; 

 children being the special object of its wrath. It usually feeds during 

 the day, but on several occasions it has been observed to be engaged in 

 stirring up the mud and searching for food till late at night. The trum- 

 peting of a saras is loud and piercing and may be heard at long dis- 

 tances ; it is heard of tener at night and early in the morning ; and when 

 they are living in batches in different parts of the garden, the call of 

 one is always answered by the others. Whether they habitually kill 

 snakes is not known, but on one occasion two of them were observed 

 doing so. The white or snow-wreath crane is more shy and generally 

 less noisy, though at the breeding season it may be heard calling loud 

 and sometimes incessantly with much display of plumage ; compared 

 with the saras its note is feeble, but not so feeble as it has been repre- 

 sented to be by some authorities ; the note is a shrill, shivering whistle 



