26 
Chick. Closely resembling the Chick of Grtt-s antigone. — 
Egg: An elongated oval, usually a good deal pointed towards the one end. Shell very hard and strong, generally 
fairly and sometimes highly glossy, very rarely almost devoid of gloss. Shell pitted more or less distinctly, ground colour 
sometimes pure white, sometimes clear pale sea-green, in others a sort of pinky cream colour and numerous intermediate 
shades are observable. Some few eggs are entirely spotless and devoid of markings, but they are commonly more or less 
profusely studded with blotches and clouds of pale yellowish brown purple or purplish pink. As a rule the markings are 
most numerous at the large end and sometimes even are entirely confined to that part of the egg. The size of the eggs 
varies very much, the average of fifty-one eggs is 3.96 by 2.56 inches. Greatest length observed 4.48 inches, greatest 
breadth 2.75 inches. (Capt. G. F. L. Marshall). 
Had. Northern India. 
This is the “Sarus Crane” of India proper, the Grue a collier" of Buffon and the ^ Grus col laris" of Boddaert. 
Buffon tells us that a bird of this species had been kept alive by Madame de Bandeville, and gives us a very good 
figure of it, in which the white collar is quite conspicuous, the only fault to find with it being that the tertiaries should be 
lighter in colour. Vieillot in his “Galerie des Oiseaux” figures it again, and gives the tertiaries their proper tint. As regards 
the further history of this bird, it has been constanty confounded with its near relation the Sarus Crane of the Burmese pe¬ 
ninsula (G. antigone). I might as well mention that all the birds of this species with white collar and white tertiaries to 
be found in the British Museum come from India proper and Nepal, and that the same thing is the case in the Paris 
Museum, where M. Oustalet was kind enough to examine the specimens at my request. 
The Collared Crane inhabits the northern part of India, north of the 20th parallel, extending to the Himalayas 
on the north, east as far as the neighbourhood of Dacca in Upper Bengal, and west up to the Indus. Over the greater 
part of the country named, the bird breeds in suitable localities, that is, in swampy plains and in the neighbourhood of 
rivers and lakes. Although it has been stated otherwise, most observers agree that this bird is very partial to watery 
plains, being seldom found very far from swamps, lakes or rivers. In the rainy season during which this Crane breeds, 
it is scattered in pairs all over its breeding range, being found particularly numerous in Upper Bengal, in some parts of 
Nepal, and in the North-Western Provinces. It also occurs in Oudh, in some parts of the central Provinces, North-eastern 
Rajputana, Cutch and Kathiawar in Western India. In the western part of the Punjab, in Rajputana and in Sind this 
bird becomes rarer, and its occurrence so far west as the western shore of the Caspian Sea (recorded by Nordmann and 
by Radde) must be regarded as exceptional. So also the birds seen by General A. W. Komarow at Derbent, as recorded 
by the last-named author, must be deemed to be stragglers. On the eastern coast of India, this Crane may be met with 
sparsel)? as far south as the Godaveri (V. Ball). 
In Hume and Marshall’s “Game-Birds of India” we find an excellent account of the habits of this bird given as 
follows: — “In the above-named well-watered districts this Crane is found generally in the neighbourhood of cultivation, 
“but it may be found far away from this, in places where wide level plains are watered by streams or rivers or dotted 
“about with ponds or lakes. During the autumn and cold season most of the pairs are accompanied by one, two or 
“rarely three young ones over whom they watch with great solicitude. These birds certainly pair for life and palpably 
“exhibit great grief for the loss of their mate, keeping for weeks at times about the locality where their partner was 
“killed and calling constantly. Generally after a week or ten days the survivor disappears, and, it is to be hoped finds 
“ consolation elsewhere with a new mate; but on two occasions I have actually known the widowed bird to pine away 
“ and die; in the one case my dogs caught the bird in a field, where it had retreated to die, literally starved to death; 
“in the other the bird disappeared, and a few days later we found the feathers in a field where it had obviously fallen 
“a prey to the jackals. In both these cases I had killed the bird by accident shooting at other things”. This agrees 
with what Mr. R. M. Adam has told us about the conjugal fidelity of this Crane. He says that in Rajputana the people 
object to its being shot, and that “they look upon the killing of the pair as a lesser sin than the killing of one. Should 
“one of a pair be killed the native belief is that the sur\dving bird calls all the long night for its mate, and beats its 
“head on the ground until it dies”. Speaking of the protection this bird enjoys from the natives, Jerdon informs us that 
“in most parts of the country it is so confiding and fearless in its habits as to preclude the sportsman from shooting 
“it, and in the territories of Holkar it is, if not venerated, esteemed so highly as to be held sacred from the Shikaries, 
“and I have known complaints made against officers for shooting it”. 
Hume informs us that “when the young are only half grown the old birds are still seen feeding them”. Further 
on Mr. Hume says “although the young often keep with them till March they do not feed them, though they still call 
“them and warn them if any suspicious objects appears. Later in spring the pair may be seen standing side by side in 
“the shallow water pluming and fondling each other most affectionately. In their wild state amongst themselves they 
