> that they had found some young Cranes. As Iran towards them, a Crane
ee. ie from among some bushes which were only two or three feet,
ee had been shouting for at least a minute or two. Itrose
just at the spot where it got up, neither eggs nor
found. They were standing upright and walking
d making a rather loud “ cheeping ” cry. They seemed as if they could have left such
ee very few days. I say supposed; for in England we know nothing of
ae e come from any part of the world. They were straightly
in the knees, covered with a moderately long chestnut
ng away into paler underneath. As I fondled one of

Presently the lads called out t ;
(not the one I had previously seen) rose just before
high, and not twenty yards from the place ye th
into the air in a hurried frightened way. There was Boe
young. I then went up to where the two little Cranes were
about with some facility,
eggs as Cranes were supposed to lay only |
the eggs which are called Cranes’, but which may hav
made little things, short in the beak, livid in the eye, thick

cer ts, softeni

- tawny-coloured down, darker on the upper parts, ee

ae it ae to peck playfully at my hands and legs, and when at length I rose to go away, it w alked after me,
3°

taking me, as I supposed, for one of its long-legged parents. I had only ue before a ee 8 it some
bits of down to keep ; for, valuable as I knew it to be in a natural history point of ue could norma < up my
mind to take its life. As soon as I saw its inclination to follow, I took to double-quick time, and left it far behind.
Its confidence was the more remarkable as all the time we were with it the old Cranes were flying round near the
cround at some distance from us, their necks and feet fully stretched out as usual, but with a remarkable sudden
casting up of the wings in a direction over the back after each downward stroke, in place of the onan any steady
movement. At the same time they were making a peculiar kind of low clattering or somewhat gurgling noise, of
which it is very difficult to give a description ; and now and then they broke out into a loud trumpeting call not
unlike their grand ordinary notes, which, audible at a great distance, gladden the ears of the lover of nature.

“The Crane in Lapland is not gregarious when it has once arrived at its summer quarters. As soon as it
reaches its breeding-place (for the most part as soon as the snow is mainly off the ground), it repairs its simple
nest, and lays its two eggs; for two were in each of the four nests that have occurred to me, and two generally
say those few natives who know anything about the subject. The nest is neither large nor concealed. The
birds are silent towards intruders on the eggs. The young run probably as soon as, or soon after, they are
hatched, and by some means are led or conveyed toa great distance by their parents after having been dis-
turbed. They have a chestnut or tawny down, no feathers visible in their wings for some time. In Lapland,
and, as far as I have heard, in Sweden and Finland, the Crane never breeds otherwise than on the ground.”

“The Common Crane of Europe,” says Mr. Jerdon, ‘ visits India in numerous flocks during the cold
weather. In the Deccan and Central India it is generally seen in small parties of from six or eight
to twenty, and now and then in much larger numbers, especially in the Punjab and the North-western
Provinces. It feeds chiefly on grain, committing great havoc in the wheat- and rice-fields in Bengal ; but it
also eats the shoots of plants and flowers, and occasionally, it is said, insects and reptiles. On one occasion
I found the flowers of Carthamus tinctorius had been the only food partaken of. In China it is stated to
devour sweet potatoes. It feeds chiefly in the morning, and rests during the day in some river or tank,
returning to the fields for a short time in the afternoon. It utters a fine, loud, trumpet-like call, chiefly
during flight. It leaves India early, generally before the end of March, and breeds in Northern Asia and
Europe, mostly in marshy ground. The eggs are two in number, of a greenish colour, with some
brownish spots. This Crane is occasionally hawked at and killed by a good Bhyri (Falco peregrinus).”

For the following note on the breeding of this bird in Spain, I am indebted to Major L. H. Irby :—* The
Common Crane, known to the Spaniards by the name of ‘Grulla,’ is very plentiful in winter in Southern
Spain and Morocco, arriving in October and leaving in March. I was unable to find or hear of any nesting
in Morocco; but a few pairs, varying in number according to the wetness of the season, annually occur at
the Laguna de Janda, about twenty miles from Tarifa, on the road to Cadiz ; a few also sometimes nest at
the Laguna near Casa Viega, about ten miles further to the northward.
these two places is about twenty-five or thirty pairs. These lagunes generally become dry in August. In
some years a few pairs nest in the marismas of the Guadalquivir,
locality. The nest is always placed in the laguna, and is simply a collection of grass and rushes raised above
the level of the water, in which never more than two eggs are laid. About the 5th of May is the earliest
date on which they begin to lay; and eg

Be ageless ggs hard set and only tit to hatch have been found on the 10th of June.
ne shape ¢ ring in di

ape and colourmg of the eggs found in different nests vary a good deal in size, sh

. ‘ é 29

those in each nest are always alike in these respects.

the Great Bustard ; but a rare and beautiful variety, 1
beautifully marked at the larger end with reddish
The principal figure in the Pl

The maximum number nesting 10

but not, so far as I am aware, in any other

ape, and colour ; but
They usually resemble the markings and colour of
nore elongated and of a coffee- creamy brown colour,
| brown, is occasionally found.”

ate 1s about one third of the natural size.