514 
CRANE. 
ash colour, except the great quills of the wing, the 
covering of the head, and the fore part of the neck. 
A large tuft of elegant unwebbed curling feathers 
springs from one pinion of each wing, which fall 
back gracefully, and by their flexibility, their po- 
sition, and their texture, resemble the plumes of 
the ostrich. The straight, pointed, and compress- 
ed bill bears so strong a resemblance to the seed- 
vessel of the geranium, that it has given its name to 
the plant. The sides of the head and the hind 
part of the neck are white ; on the upper part of 
the neck there is a bare ash-coloured space of two 
inches ; and above this the skin is bare and red, 
with a few scattered hairs. The figure of the bird 
is slender, his gait erect, his length four feet, and his 
weight about ten pounds. 
Cranes choose marshy situations to nestle in, 
where they lay two blueish eggs; and the young 
ones are scarcely reared when the season of their 
departure arrives, and they must employ their 
newly acquired strength in accompanying their pa- 
rents in their route. The first cold days in autumn 
serve them as a warning to depart to milder cli- 
mates ; previous to their retreat, they assemble in 
amazing numbers, and, having chosen a leader, at 
once soar to the higher regions of the atmosphere, 
where they arrange themselves into the form of a 
triangle, and proceed to their designed place. They 
are exceedingly clamorous; and though their voyage 
is generally performed in the night, their loud 
screams betray their course. During this nocturnal 
