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state of things lasted for three nights. After this time one bird only, the female, sat at night on the nest, having a 
chick under each wing while the male stood close by keeping watch, and raising an alarm whenever anything unusual 
caught its sight or hearing. 
After the little birds had got strong they became very active and even playful, running round each other with 
expanded wings or what were to become wings in time, and nimbly catching the worms and small pieces of meat and 
bread presented to them by the parents. Two da5?s after they had been hatched I saw the whole family pass through 
the pond. The water was rather deep so that the old birds could just wade through it, and the chicks followed, swim¬ 
ming as readily as little geese. 
Unfortunately these interesting little birds did not come to maturity, but, having caught cold on a change in the 
weather, died after a few weeks. The death of these birds gave me occasion to admire the superior intelligence of these 
Cranes. Most birds when their young are ill neglect them, and if they have many young ones desert the sick to look 
after the healthy ones. Not so with my Cranes. When one of the chicks became ill and feeble they took all possible 
care to feed it properly, and to prevent the stronger one from snapping away the food from it. They used to hold the 
food away from the strong one, and present it again and again to the weaker bird. About six or seven hours before its 
death when the little patient resolutely refused all food, the parents left off offering it food, but one of them sitting 
down (which they do very rarely during the day when the young are in good health) induced the chick to go under its 
wing. A little later when the young bird became very restless and fell down, the old bird gently supported the ailing 
chick with its bill, and when it was dead screamed loudly, apparently in great distress, in concert with its mate. Even 
then it did not leave the dead chick, but sat over it for a couple of hours now and then examining it with its bill as 
if to assure itself that it remained really insensible. 
The death of the second chick caused no less grief to the Cranes, and when they had convinced themselves that 
nothing they did, could bring it back to life, and it had been taken away from them, they screamed in despair for 
several days taking scarcely any rest even during the night. 
The chicks of this Crane have a curious way of going under the wing of the parent. As the mother sits on the 
ground the chick creeps under the black inner-secondaries, and gradually advancing, finds its way along the flank and 
so under the wing of its mother. 
The Mantchurian Crane is migratory, going south in autumn to spend the winter in Corea and the Yangtse basin 
in China. On this subject Mr. C. W. Campbell writes in “The Ibis” '): “The first blast of icy wind brings the Manchu- 
“rian Crane down in small numbers from the north. This seems to be generally in October. Later on large flocks may 
“be seen travelling in much the same formation as geese, though more slowly and irregularly, and at a very great 
“height. The piercing cry of these birds is often heard before they themselves are visible. During the winter many 
“are snared for export to China and Japan, where they are held in high estimation as birds of ornament”. 
Taczanowsky gives us nearly the same information, adding that this Crane is common in Corea during the 
winter only north of Seoul, being rare in the south, and that it is never found there in summer. Styan met with Ja¬ 
panese Cranes in winter on the Yangtse and on the Poyang Lake. 
In Japan this Crane is a rare winter visitor, and its occurrence there, as Prof Ijima informs me, is always reported 
in the newspapers and made known to the Imperial household by the Local Administrators. The Japanese Crane was not 
obtained by Siebold’s collectors for the Leiden Museum. In the Museum of Mr. Walter Rothschild at Tring there are 
two skins of this species from Japan, one a female marked “Satsuma 1892” and a second one, a male, marked “Osumi”. 
Mr. Ringer has also sent an example from Nagasaki. Of course some doubt remains whether those birds were genuine 
wild shot birds, as these Cranes are so often kept in a tame state in the Japanese Empire. 
The first of this species brought to Europe alive were probably the two birds presented to the Menagerie du 
Museum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris on the ist April 1854, by Monsieur de Montigny then Consul of France at Shanghai. 
These birds were both males, but on the 18th April of the same year Monsieur de Montigny presented a third specimen 
which proved to be a female, and from this female, with one of the males first given, several young ones were bred in 
the first years of their introduction. 
The Zoological Society of London received their first specimens of this Crane in 1856. They were presented by 
H. M. the Queen, and bred in 1861. (see Bartlett, P. Z. S. 1861 p. 369 pi. XXXV). In Amsterdam the Zoological 
Society received their first birds in i860. I may add that they were the special pride of the late Director, Dr. G. F. 
Westerman, who was at that time forming the beautiful series of Cranes which he always kept up during his Directorship. 
The Mantchurian Crane has always been very scarce in European collections, as up to the last few years very 
few specimens have been imported. This is probably to be attributed to the esteem in which it is held by the Chinese 
1) A list of Birds collected in Corea. Ibis, 1892, p. 230. 
2) Liste suppl6mentaire des Oiseaux reciieillis en Coree par M. Jean Kalinowslsi. P. Z. S. 1888, p. 450. 
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