THE COMMON CRANE. 
II3 
cnce between European and Indian examples. '1 he series in 
the British Museum, however, teaches a different conclusion, 
and I am as yet quite unconvinced that the two species are the 
same, because there is a great gap in the geographical distribu- 
tion of the two forms, as has been illustrated by Radakoff in 
his “ Hand- Atlas.” 
HaT)it3.— The Crane is a migratory bird to Europe, arriving in 
February in the south and reaching its northern breeding-home 
in April and May. Colonel Irby writes: — “On the nth of 
March, 1874, Mr. Stark and myself had the pleasure of seeing 
them on passage, and a grand and extraordinary sight it was, 
as flock after flock passed over at a height of about two hun- 
dred yards, some in single line, and some in a V-shape, others in 
a Y-formation, all from time to time trumpeting loudly. We 
watched them for about an hour as they passed, during which 
time we calculated that at least four thousand must have flown 
by. This was early in the morning, and we were obliged to 
contiii..e our journey ; but when we lost sight of the Vega of 
Casas Viejas, over which the Cranes were passing in a due 
northerly direction, there appeared to be no diminution in their 
numbers, and, as my friend remarked, ‘ one would not have 
believed that there were so many Cranes in the whole of 
Europe.’” 
“ Unlike the Herons and the Storks,” writes Mr. Seebohm, 
“the Crane has a loud and not unmusical voice, which can be 
heard at an immense distance. The keel of the sternum is 
hollow, and the wind-pipe is convoluted between the plates 
on either side ; and from this long pipe, as from a trombone, 
proceed loud, clear, trumpet-like notes, so rapidly trilled as 
almost to split the ear with their vibrations. These notes can 
be variously modulated to express the different feelings of 
the bird. The Crane feeds more on vegetable than on animal 
food. It eats all sorts of corn, seeds, buck-wheat, peas, the 
tender shoots of aquatic plants, and even grass ; but it often 
devours worms, insects of various kinds, and even lizards and 
Small frogs, but it is not known to eat fish.” 
Nest. — To again quote Colonel Irby, the “ nests vary much 
in size, some being quite five feet across, others perhaps not 
tnore than eighteen inches ; some are deep, and stand high 
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