Ornithological Notes. 
177 
1. AntJiropoides virgo. — " 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 Eeid, 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 
Vv^itnessed 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 w^ork on British birds, it is new to Britain in a wild 
state. It has been imported, how^ever, and may be seen in 
a domestic state in the garden of the Zoological Society. 
Since the above was written w^e 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 country 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 
Eeid's possession is about three feet, and the spread of the 
