THE LIVING WORLD. 
379 
The Demoiselle Crane (Scops virgo ) is a very handsome African species, 
hardly four feet in height, notable for the eccentric gambols it occasionally 
indulges in, in which it dances about on the tips of its toes, flaps its wings, 
and bows its head' in a most humorous manner. 
The Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina) is also a native of northwestern 
Africa, and like 
the previous 
species occa¬ 
sionally indul¬ 
ges in fantastic 
gambols. It 
differs from the 
demoiselle in 
having a very 
handsome crest 
of filamentous 
feathers of a 
golden hue, 
fringed with 
black barbules. 
It has an ex¬ 
tremely harsh 
voice, which it 
freque n tly 
uses, and is 
sometimes call¬ 
ed the trumpet 
crane. 
The name 
trumpeter i s 
very properly 
bestowed be¬ 
cause the bird 
gives voice to a 
call very much 
resembling 
trumpet notes, 
which it repeats 
very often be¬ 
tween sunset 
and dark. Su¬ 
perstitious peo- CRANE FEEDING ITS YOUNG. 
tached the same importance to the cry of the crane as they have to the howling 
of a dog, and with equal reason, since there is no reason in either. The crane s 
dancing habits, grotesque almost beyond description, are also made the basis 
for equally silly prophesy of evil, making of an innocent hilarity which the 
bird thus expresses, a portent of calamity to persons and even to communi¬ 
ties. 
