CRANE. The largest of the wading birds (Grano?). They constitute the family Gruithe, occupies a very distinctive position be tween the triunpeters and the rails, being con nected with the latter by the limpkins, or Ara inidfc. All are tall, long-legged, long-necked birds, with the head more or less naked, but sometimes tufted, rather long, straight, com pressed beaks, short but powerful wings, short tails, the feet unwebbed, and the hind toe greatly elevated; they are like herons in appearance, but resemble rails in structure. One remark able feats re is the enormous development of the windpipe within the keel of the breastbone, where it is coiled and twisted before emerging into the neck; the extreme development of this is found in our American whooping crane, where the trachea reaches four or five feet in length in old age (it is perfectly straight and simple at birth), and the convolutions act like those of a French hunting-horn in producing the ext-raor dinary resonance of tone for which the voice of this species (see Ints) is noted. About eighteen species of crane are known, representing three genera and all parts of the world except South America and the Malayan and Polynesian archi pelagoes. The best-known, perhaps, is the Euro pean crane, which is about four feet high, ashy gray. with a blackish face and throat. The tertial feathers of the wings are so prolonged as to droop over the quills: their webs are fibrous and disconnected, and formerly they were much ti.ed as ornamental plumes. This peculiarity characterizes most other species to a greater or less extent, and sonic species have the power to elevate these plumes at. will, forming a striking ornament. All the cranes of the temperate zone migrate. some going annually to the far north to breed; and the coining of flocks in the spring, always in a V-fo•mation, and the extraordinary 'dames' with which sonic accompany courtship, have been observed for centuries and have caused a large body of myth and folklore to grow up about the bird during classical and mediaeval times. On this point, consult C. de Kay, Bird
Gods (New York, I Sei.1).
The remote breeding of the European crane (Grits pins) in Lapland and along the northern border of Russia was little known until the mystery was solved by J. \Volley in 1853, who discovered among other new facts that the young run about as soon as they leave the egg, and that the sitting bird would not carry away eggs that had been handled, as had been commonly be lieved. The birds make their nests on the ground in the marshy plains that border the Arctic Sea. The whole account (Ibis, London, 1859) is ex ceedingly interesting, and is largely quoted by Stejneger in the Standard Natural History, vol. iv. (Boston, 1885). Other cranes of the Old World are the northwest African crowned or Balearic crane (Balearics paronina), which has a top-knot like that of a peacock; and the smaller Numidian crane or demoiselle (Gras rirgo), which in slimmer resides and breeds from Turkey eastward to China, and which is the one most famous for its dancing. The Manchurian crane (Grits riridirostris) is especially common in winter in Korea, where it is trapped in large numbers and sold to the Chinese and .Japanese, who are especially fond of it, and endow it with many folklore qualities. The large Australasian crane (Gros Australasiana) is one of the most conspicuous birds of that region, and is known to the Australians as 'native companion' because of its friendly disposition. It will sometimes fol low the plowman, picking up the insects he turns out of the soil. Consult Blyth, Natural History of the Cranes (London, 1881).
American cranes are of three species. The greatest is the whooping crane (Grits Ameri cana). which is larger than the European crane, and is seldom seen except on the Western plains, where it has become rare. Two others are also species of the Western interior. and are diminish ing in numbers: one is the sand-hill crane (Gres .11 r,r lea na) and the other the little brown crane (Grus ranadensis)—both until recently regarded as one species. Consult Cones, Birds of the North west (Washington, 1874). See Plate of