144 
BIRD-LIFE. 
a whole herd of heifers, and drove them into the stable. 
This bird has undertaken so many jobs that he is 
employed the whole day long. 
“ Recently he returned to his other duties, after having 
assisted in driving the village herd of cattle to the 
pasture. In passing through the hamlet he found some 
heifers belonging to the herd which had remained behind, 
whereupon he instantly set about driving them down to 
those in the meadows; he drove them safely through the 
village, but frightened them so by his screams and blows 
with the beak that they ran away, and took the contrary 
direction to where the rest of the herd had gone. He ran 
quickly after them to try and bring them back, but to no 
purpose. The chase continued for over two miles, finish¬ 
ing in a field of corn belonging to the neighbouring 
village, where the cattle and their feathered herdsman 
were pounded: the latter, however, would not allow 
himself to be caught, but returned home, disconsolate 
at his want of success. 
“ At times it required all his courage and cleverness to 
carry out his intentions. I had the pleasure once of 
witnessing one of his heroic battles. One day two oxen 
chanced to break into our garden; the Crane saw them, 
and, greatly enraged at their ill manners, ran after them 
as fast as he could, to put an end to such a nuisance and 
severely punish the trespassers. He immediately tried to 
drive them out of the garden, which the oxen, confiding 
in their strength, did not seem to see. Neither screams 
nor blows of the beak had any effect at the commence¬ 
ment, for the oxen, enraged at the latter, kept savagely 
charging the Crane, without showing the slightest signs 
of any intention of retreating. I felt anything but com¬ 
fortable in the matter. The bird, however, did not evince 
