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ALMOST HUMAN 
modest worth. The cranes in particular — those most unsocial of birds 
— regard him as their special friend. As soon as he is seen hopping 
along the walk outside their compounds, these long-necked things stretch 
themselves to the uttermost in their endeavors to be the first to catch 
his eye. They fiap their wings wildly, and cry aloud for his notice. 
When he turns into one compound the others watch so jealously that 
every moment of his stay makes the favored ones more keenly desirous 
of prolonging the visit in order to retain the fascination. So sure are 
the host and hostess that he is a visitor of note that their reception is 
as courtly and formal as possible. They spread out their wings as 
they bow ceremoniously almost to the ground, advance a step or two. 
Everybody’s Friend. 
make another obeisance, retire a step, then advance with the same 
courtly ceremony. Those who have seen a ceremonial advance towards 
a throne know how courtiers take three measured steps, bow almost to 
the ground, and then resume their march. This seems to model the 
courtly reception given by storks and cranes to visitors whom they delight 
to honor. The whole ceremony belongs to the formal eighteenth 
century rather than to the free-and-easy twentieth, but perhaps birds 
do not know how completely times have altered, and may be under 
the misapprehension that in polite society deference is still paid where 
deference is due. Of course, in bird-land, such news as the abolition 
of class distinctions would travel very slowly. 
