THE DEMOISELLE CRANE. 
249 
long grass, amongst which it finds its food. It seldom flies, 
but runs with great swiftness; the female lays two eggs, 
and forms her nest in low trees : the flesh is not much es- 
teemed, according to Gardner ; but other travellers give a 
favourable account of it, and even say that the bird is do- 
mesticated on this account. 
Some of the Cranes fly in great flocks. Mr. Elliott of 
Wolfelee"^ says of the elegant Demoiselle Crane [Anthro- 
poides virgo), so much admired in our Zoological Gardens, 
for its lady-like aspect and delicate graceful step, that in 
India it flies ^^in vast flocks of from fifty to a hundred, and 
even five hundred, with great regularity of arrangement, in a 
long line, a few of the leading ones disposing themselves in 
another line at an angle, varying from a right to an acute 
one with it."*^ They fly in this way when they are in pro- 
gress, even during the day, when disturbed on the banks of 
the rivers, which they decorate and render lively by their 
presence; these birds may be seen circling overhead at a 
great height, but still in a regular order of line. Unlike 
the herons, the cranes would seem to be fonder of vegetable 
food than animal. Mr. Jerdon mentions that when a hawk 
pounces on it, its mates generally come to its assistance; 
* Notes quoted by Jerdon, ' Madras Journal/ vol. xii. 
