THE CllANE. 
131 
haps at the branch of that river, previously mentioned by Dr. 
Fleming, who found the species breeding on the islands in the 
Tummel at Moulincarn, between Dunkeld and Blair Athol.'’'’* Mr. 
St. John, too, states that many breed ^Mar inland, on the stony 
banks of the Findhorn, Spey, and other rivers.'”t Montagu 
imagined that this bird never left the sea-shore. 
Sir WiUiam Jardine, in a note contributed to his edition of 
Wilson’s American Ornithology (vol. hi. p. 34), gives a highly 
interesting account of the habits of these birds, when they con- 
gregate in extraordinary numbers — many thousands” — on some 
part of the British coast ; the locality, however, not being named. 
I have never seen any approximation to such numbers on the 
coast of Ireland. 
THE CEANE, 
Grus cinerea, Bechst. 
Ardea grus, Linn. 
Is an extremely rare visitant. 
As has been remarked by Dr. Scouler, in a Notice of Animals 
which have disappeared from Ireland during the period of Au- 
thentic History:”! — ‘'^The crane [Grus cinerea) was formerly so 
plentiful that, according to Giraldus, flocks consisting of a hun- 
dred individuals were extremely common.” The words of Giral- 
dus are — In tanto vero numerositate se grues ingerunt, ut uno 
in grege centum et circiter nmnerum frequenter invenies,” (Top. 
Hibern. p. 705.) If the bird meant by Giraldus were the true 
crane, and not the heron, which is commonly called by that name 
in Ireland at the present day, the stately bird would seem to have 
been once as common here as it was in early times in England. 
To that country it is now a very rare visitant. It would seem, 
* Hist. Brit. Auim. (1828.) 
t Tour in Sutherland, vol. i. p. 223. 
I Journal of the Geologieal Society of Dublin, vol. i. p. 224 (Part 3). 
