-CRANE. 
517 
North Carolina. u When,” says he, “ such a flock 
of cranes, the most part white, arose under us, with 
such a cry, redoubled by many ecchoes, as if an 
armie of men had showted all together.” This was 
in the month of July ; which proves that in those 
early days this species bred in the then desert parts 
of the southern provinces, till driven away by popu- 
lation, as was the case with the common crane in 
England ; which abounded in our undrained fens, 
till cultivation forced them entirely to quit our 
kingdom. 
But the most elegant of the cranes is the Nu- 
midian, whose figure we have given from a very 
beautiful specimen in the possession of Mr. Parkin- 
son. It has all the proportions of the crane on a 
smaller scale, and the same distribution of colours 
on the plumage, only the gray is purer. Two beau- 
tiful white tufts of unwebbed and hairy feathers, 
falling from behind each eye, form a sort of head- 
dress ; while long, soft, and silky hairs of the finest 
black lie on the crown of the head ; similar feathers 
descending from the fore part of the neck hang 
gracefully below it; and, to complete the figure, long 
and pendent bending tufts appear between the black 
quills of the wings. 
On account of its elegant form, its rich garb, and 
its affected airs, the French have named this bird 
the Demoiselle or Miss, and remark that it makes 
repeated reverences as it walks along, at the same 
time treading the ground with all the lightness and 
gaiety of a dancer. This bent, which in a certain 
