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W. H. Workman—Demoiselle Cranes



so it was some job getting it through the gate and into position opposite

the door of their temporary run. At last we managed it and out

marched two of the most elegant birds I had ever seen. This species

is one of the smallest of the Cranes and one of the most beautiful.

It is a pale grey colour with the head, neck, and tips of the long wing

and tail plumes deep bluish grey, shading to black. Just behind

the eye, or where the ear should be, there is a bunch on each side

of lovely white feathers which hang down the neck curling back at the

tips. The eyes of these birds are large and brilliant, of a blood-red

colour, and the legs are black. There is no difference in the sexes.


As this Crane is a native of southern Europe, western Asia and

North Africa, it needs a certain amount of shelter during our long and

dismal winter. A good house can be constructed in some corner,

of match boarding covered with felt or rubberoid, and I would strongly

recommend that J in. wire netting be stretched over the bottom

and door so as to keep out rats and mice. On the wire netting put

down a good thick bed of peat moss litter which is healthy, warm,

and will keep clean for months. I made a little yard outside the

house so, if necessary, I can keep the birds shut up say in frost or snow

and at the same time they can get a little exercise. If kept out all

night, except during the warmest summer weather (which we in the

North don’t have) they got very stiff legs and quite evidently suffer

from acute rheumatism, so I drive my pair in every night and with

our climate I think this is much the better plan.


Now you will want to know how these birds are fed, but first let

me tell you that though big birds they have extremely small appetites,

in fact a healthy starling would beat them hands down. I feed them

on cracked maize, dari, wheat, and small whole maize with now and then

a little hemp. The best way to feed Cranes is in the morning and evening

in their house: put the food and water in strong earthenware dishes,

those that you buy for a dog, made of brown pottery, very heavy

and measure nearly 6 inches in diameter. I put them on an upturned

box about 6 or 8 inches high so that they cannot put their big

feet into the dishes and dirty the food and water, for in this way they

are rather stupid big things and exceedingly nervous, which makes

them do silly things, but nervous humans often do likewise.



