STANLEY CRANE. Scops Paradisea. 



PLATE XIV. 



Ardea Paradisea, Licht. Cat. (1793) 28. 



Tetrapteryx Capensis, Thunberg, 1818. 



Anthropoides Stanleyanus, Vigors, Zool. Journ. vi. t. 8. 



Inhabits South Africa. 



This bird was first described by M. Lichtenstein, the father of tbe African traveller, in the catalogue of 

 his collection, and introduced by Bechstein into his translation of Latham's 'Synopsis of Birds.' It was 

 afterwards formed into a peculiar genus by the celebrated Thunberg ; but their description having escaped 

 the researches of Mr. Vigors, he described it as a new species, and gave the first figure of it in the ' Zoolo- 

 gical Journal,' as above cited. 



It is the; most elegant bird of the family of Cranes, so peculiar for the grace and lightness of their 

 movements, and is at once known from the Demoiselle of India by its superior size and the length of the 

 plumes over the tail. 



Lord Derby in his Notes observes : — 



" I possessed for some years several individuals of that species of the genus Anthropoides which my 

 late friend Dr. Latham had done me the honour to distinguish by my name, in consequence of my having 

 had the good fortune first to draw his attention to the bird, which I had seen in the Tower of London, 

 then under the care of Mr. Cops, but not one of them had ever shown any signs of a chance of breeding, 

 until, in the year 1843, my superintendent Thompson thought he saw in two of them an inclination to pair, 

 and he immediately determined to separate them from all others of the same kind, in a small paddock 

 behind his own bouse, in which were the Elands and some large fowls. The plan succeeded, for in the 

 next year (1844) the hen laid seven eggs, but scattered about in different parts of the paddock, without 

 any appearance of a nest. From this circumstance I entertained little, if any, expectation of any good 

 being derived from them, but we decided to put them into the hatching-machine, and the result was, that 

 while six out of the seven proved barren, the seventh produced a chicken, which however was always deli- 

 cate and lived but a very short time, not above two or three days. The system of seclusion was continued, 

 and in the spring of 1845 she laid five eggs, which Thompson placed at first under a Turkey, but not con- 

 sidering her a sufficiently good nurse, when the period of hatching drew near, he took them from her and 

 put them under a large Hen, of a somewhat Indian breed. Two of the five proved addle ; the other three 

 had birds in them, of which the third died in the shell ; but two were hatched, and far from showing any 

 disposition to remain in the nest and be fed, they from the first took to their legs, and followed the ex- 

 ample of so many Chickens or Partridges, actively running about and picking up the food thrown to them, 

 and even taking it from the hand They appeared to go on very well for some short time ; but in about a 

 week or ten days, I think, one of them was found one morning to be suffering apparently from cramp, for it 

 could not stand on its legs, though it fed very well ; but though every attention was paid to it, it never 



recovered its powers, and died at about The other continued strong and healthy, and grew very 



rapidly in size, and I trusted we might have succeeded in finally rearing that one ; but at last, a short time 

 before its companion's death, it also became ill, and survived its fellow but very little. I had them both 

 preserved, and all three now form portions of my museum. The same attempt will he continued with the 

 same pair next season, and a second pair are already separated after the same plan, when I trust, with one 

 or the other, we may be more fortunate than we have yet been, especially if the next season should be more 

 favourable than the two last have been." 



" One of my young Stanley Cranes is going on well, and I am told is much grown, but the other has 

 been for some days laid up by cramp and cannot stand, but still feeds well." — Sept. 18, 1845. 



" My young Cranes still both exist, but one I fear we shall never rear : the other is a fine bird and 

 grows fast. They are now between three and six weeks old, and one at least getting into pen-feathers, 

 and commencing the change of the body, getting more grey and the head becoming paler." 



" The Stanley Cranes have certainly bred with us, but I rather think that hitherto it has been always 

 the same pair, which has now, I may say, bred three years. In the first I think only one was hatched ; last 

 year two were reared till about half-grown, as you may see in Hawkins's Drawings, which comprise those 

 two, from the life, in two states of growth, the single one of the former year from the Museum, and the 

 egg. This year the same pair have laid six eggs certainly, if not more, but none have as yet been hatched." 

 —July 21, 1846. 



