CLASS II. AVES: OEDER 7. GRALLATORES. 
299 
beneath white ; habitssimilar to the preceding ; common in Southern Europe ; rare in the North ; 
occasion ally seen in England. 
THE COMMON EUROPEAN CEANE. 
THE GEUID^ OE CEAls^ES. 
These are large and stately birds, most of them living exclusively in warm climates. The food 
is various, comprising insects, reptiles, worms, and fish ; some species likewise frequent plowed 
and newly-planted fields to pick up seeds, as well as living prey. They dwell in fields, marshes, 
and along the margins of ponds, but always roost in trees, where they also nest, as well as on 
the ground. When incubation commences, the nest is raised to the height of the body with grass 
and reeds ; they are said to lay but two eggs, on which each alternately broods in a standing pos- 
ture, the legs striding the nest. They migrate in vast flocks, and perform very extensive peri- 
odical journeys, passing along in the higher regions of the atmosphere; they often move in the 
night, and usually in troops arranged in long triangular lines, guided by the shrill voice of their 
leader, which, re-echoed by the timorous and unseen ranks, afibrds often the only indication of the 
