64 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
procure the minute particles of scurf which 
adhere to their skin, and have a salty flavour 
which greatly appeals to the taste of the monkey 
folk. 
Then, again, our ancestors believed that 
the various members of the crane family 
made a practice of carrying stones in their 
beaks during their migratory flights in order 
that they should be prevented from uttering 
their scream-like cry and thus reveal their 
presence to birds of prey. It was also stated 
that the birds placed sentinels at night to act 
as guards while the other birds slept, the 
watchers standing upon one leg and clasping 
a stone in the disengaged foot. Should a 
sentinel get drowsy he would involuntarily 
relax his grip upon the stone, which would 
then fall to the ground, the noise thereby 
produced causing the bird to wake up 
and, it is to be hoped, increase his vigil¬ 
ance. 
A very common misconception in regard to 
the crane is that the long feathers of the wing 
tips constitute the bird’s tail, whereas, in 
reality, the tail feathers proper are com¬ 
paratively short and entirely concealed by 
the former when the wings are closed. In 
a like manner the feathers that form the 
peacock’s train are usually designated its tail. 
