Photo by W. P. Dando] [Regent's Park.
STANLEY CRANE.
This is a South African species.
These birds are furthermore remarkable for the possession of formidable weapons of offence, borne on the wrist-joint of the wing, in the shape of long, sharp, and powerful spurs. Similar weapons are carried by certain plovers—the Egyptian Spur-winged Plover, for instance.
CHAPTER V.
BUSTARDS AND CRANES.
The Plover Tribe, Bustards, Cranes, and Rails form a large group of diverse but probably closely related forms.
Of the Bustards, the most interesting and important species is the Great Bustard. About a hundred years ago this magnificent bird might have been seen any day in such favoured localities as the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wolds, the Norfolk and Suffolk "brecks," the heaths of Newmarket, or the downs of Berkshire and Wiltshire. It owes its extermination to several causes, foremost among which must be reckoned the reclaiming of waste land and improved methods of agriculture. "The bulk of its body," says Professor Newton, "renders it a conspicuous and stately object; and when on the wing, to which it readily takes, its flight is not inferior in majesty to that of the eagle." The expanse of the outstretched wings of a great bustard is 8 feet, or even more; and the weight of the male may even exceed 35 lbs. The female is smaller.