The food of these cranes consists chiefly of various kinds of grain and other seeds, among which those of durrha or Kafir millet form the largest portion. The seed-spikes of grass, buds of trees, and fruits, as well as a certain proportion of insects, are, however, also devoured by these birds.
Very curious are the attitudes assumed by these handsome birds, especially when they are surprised or under the influence of excitement. On such occasions they place themselves in wonderful postures, bending their bodies up and down, spreading out their wings, and then joining their fellows in a dance, during which they often spring a yard high in the air, while all the time their feet are alternately lifted and put down in regular rhythm.
The daily life of the crowned crane displays great uniformity. At sunrise the whole flock flies out into the veldt, where its members search for food at least a couple of hours; then they proceed to the water to drink, and spend the day in digesting their morning’s meal. Their favourite resort for the day is a sandbank far out in a river, where they can stand and preen their feathers or doze without fear of interruption. At evening the flock returns to its sleeping-quarters in the forest.
All the graceful habits of these cranes can be studied in Europe, where the birds flourish in confinement, if given sufficient room. In captivity they soon learn to associate with the human beings and animals with whom they are brought into contact, and are specially keen in discriminating between those who treat them well and those who dislike their companionship. These cranes are also to be met with in every Kafir village, while they are likewise frequently tamed by the European settlers in both South and East Africa.
In Europe the group is represented by the ordinary grey crane (Grus cinerea) and the elegant demoiselle crane (G. virgo), both of which lack the crests of their crowned relatives.
It will be observed that in this notice the name “Kafir” is spelt with one f; this being the proper orthography, as the word is the Arabic “Kafir,” an unbeliever, this being exemplified in the name “Kafiristan,” the land of infidels.
THE SILVER GULL
(Larus argentatus)
IN its adult plumage, with the snow-white head, neck, and under-parts, the delicate French grey back and wings, and the white-spotted black tips to the larger flight-feathers, the silver gull, or herring-gull, as it is more commonly called, is one of the most beautiful members of a lovely tribe of birds. Indeed, whether swimming calmly on the surface of the sea, or skimming over the crests of the waves borne on their long and powerful pinions, and every now and then plunging into the water to seize a fish or some floating morsel of food, gulls in general are some of the most elegant and graceful of all birds, their delicate colouring, in which grey and white, relieved to a greater or less extent by black or chocolate, generally predominate, thus giving a refinement to their whole appearance which is wanting in many birds of brilliant plumage. Were it not that their cries, their tempers, and their habits are by no means angelic, gulls might well have been selected as emblems of the angels.
The white and pale grey plumage, replaced in a few species by a wholly white or cream-coloured livery, is, however, developed only in the adults; birds of the year having the back and wings thickly mottled with brown and dark grey, and the tail black, while the head and neck are wholly brown; the beak, moreover, in the species forming the subject of the Plate, being black instead of orange. From this we learn that gulls are descended from birds with relatively dark plumage, which may perhaps have been dwellers on the land; and if this be so, these beautiful birds evidently acquired their present type of colouring only when they took to a life on the ocean wave. In any case, the pale livery of the adult gull must be regarded as a special adaptation to its mode of life; such a garb being the one which harmonises best with the foam-flecked waves of the waste of waters.