86 
NATURE NOTES. 
ries, and mingles with our joy of life with nature. In a little 
lyric of singular beauty, Mr. Bridges declares the conviction of 
his art, the secret motive and impulse of his muse ; let me end 
upon this perfect and true melody. 
“ I love all beauteous things, 
I seek and adore them ; 
God hath no better praise. 
And man in his hasty days 
Is honoured for them. 
“ I too will something make, 
And joy in the making ; 
Altho’ to-morrow it seem 
Like the empty words of a dream 
Remembered on waking.” 
Lionel Johnson. 
THE WINTER FLIGHTS OF CRANES IN THE 
PUNJAB. 
HAVE been so much interested in the account which 
my friend, IMr. Thomas Lambert Barlow, has given 
me of the migration of these birds, that I am led to 
think the narrative worthy of a place in Nature 
Notes, our magazine. I should mention at the outset that Mr. 
Barlow has spent over thirty years of his life in that district of 
Upper India, and was more than an ordinary observer of the 
habits and gathering places of the various birds of that country. 
The bird is the “Demoiselle” Crane {Scops virgo), which, 
though common in many parts of Africa, has been known to 
visit Asia and even some parts of Eastern Europe. It is not 
the tufted crane {Belearica pavonina), nor the Siberian crane {Grus 
gigantea), though from its height and plumage it might by some 
be mistaken for this. In general colour it is of greyish-blue, 
with white ear-tufts, a black velvety colour on the head, and 
black beak. There are but very few flowing plumes on its 
breast, and two or three of its inner tail feathers are so well 
curled, and of such perfect hue, as to be much valued by native 
chieftains and rajahs as “aigrettes” for their turbans. In 
average height the bird may be said to be about three feet six 
inches. 
These birds make their appearance in the month of 
September in the plains of the Punjab, and generally in 
incredibly large numbers, flying very high when they arrive, 
but much lower when they take their departure in the April 
following ; and it is a wonderful sight to watch the flocks 
passing overhead from the north, from whence they come. 
In travelling they divide themselves into flocks, numbering 
about thirty or forty birds in a flock, and their mode of flight 
