MAY 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SIBERIAN WHITE 
CRANE (Grus leucogeranus) IN THE OUTER 
HEBRIDES. 
By Wm. Eagle Clarke, F.L.S., &c. 
/^^N the 19th of August last, Dr. John MacRury shot at Barra 
a bird, which he thought more resembled a White Stork 
{Giconia alba) than any other species on the British hst ; though 
he was well aware that it differed in several important parti- 
culars. 
These facts he communicated to Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, who, 
in turn, informed the writer of the occurrence, and also that the bird 
had been sent to Mr. Bisshopp, of Oban, for preservation. Being 
in Oban on the 8th of September, I took the opportunity of 
caUing upon Mr. Bisshopp, who kindly showed me the bird, 
which I was not a little surprised to find was a fine adult specimen 
of Grus leucogeranus, Pallas — an eastern Asiatic species, new to 
Britain and to Western Europe. The bird, Mr. Bisshopp informed 
me, was a female, and this is also indicated by the dimensions. 
Dr. MacRury first noticed the bird in the evening, resting on 
the sandy shore near to the mouth of the Cuir River, on the 
western side of the island. As soon as the Crane caught sight of 
him, it rose at once, although he was from two to three hundred 
yards distant, and it was then noticed that the bird appeared to be 
entirely white with black tips to the wings. Its flight was slow 
and steady, like that of the common Heron, and it uttered 
now and then a plaintive whirring note. After circling about for 
a short time it alighted near the top of a sandy hill, among some 
rocks, and was stalked to within sixty or seventy yards, and 
brought to earth with a broken wing by a successful shot from a 
wire B.B. cartridge. On being approached, the bird turned 
fiercely on its captor and shov/ed much fight, catching hold of the 
muzzle of the gun with its bill. As it appeared to be otherwise 
uninjured. Dr. MacRury hoped it would survive the broken wing, 
and tried to feed it on small trout, but it seemed to be very wild, 
and refused all food, and only survived three days. 
K 
