Ornithological Notes. 



177 



1. Anthropoides vircjo. — " A fine male bird, in beautiful 

 plumage, of the Demoiselle or Numidian Crane {Anthro- 

 poides virgo), was shot on Thursday last, 14th May 1863, at 

 Deerness, east mainland, Orkney, and has since been pre- 

 served for Mr Reid, bookseller, Kirkwall. 



" Two of the birds were seen at Deerness for some days, 

 and were pursued and shot at several times. When the one 

 was killed the other flew over to the neighbouring island of 

 Copinshay, and was not afterwards seen by the Deerness 

 folks, who describe the flight and walking of this remarkable 

 bird as something very graceful, and such as they had. never 

 witnessed before. 



" Although these birds (which are natives of Africa) feed 

 on aquatic animals, small fish, frogs, &c, in their native 

 haunts, nothing was found in the stomach of this one but 

 oats, several grains of which were also found adherent to 

 its tongue. It was not starved like — weighing about five 

 pounds, being considerably heavier than our herons. 



" The gulls and lapwings continually attacked the two 

 strangers, whenever they walked or winged their way over 

 the grass and oat fields, and they were heard frequently 

 to utter a hoarse scream when thus persecuted by their 

 tormentors. 



" The Demoiselle is quite new to Orkney, and is a valuable 

 addition to our large list of birds. As far as I can find in 

 any work on British birds, it is new to Britain in a wild 

 state. It has been imported, however, and may be seen in 

 a domestic state in the garden of the Zoological Society. 



" Since the above was written we learn that a day or two 

 after the first had been shot, the other Demoiselle returned 

 to Deerness from Copinshay, and was again seen in the 

 fields, most probably in search of its mate. Several parties 

 endeavoured to stalk it, but without success. It is de- 

 scribed by some of the countiw folk who have watched it 

 as a very large bird, ' looking nearly as big as a sheep/ 

 which of course must be taken with a considerable limita- 

 tion, as the birds are both most likely about the same size. 

 We believe the extreme height of the specimen in Mr 

 Reid's possession is about three feet, and the spread of the 



