8 THE SARUS.
out to him to flap her in the face with his waist-cloth. This
he did vigorously, and this being more than she could endure,
she reluctantly crept oft" the nest, now complaining loudly, and
joined the male. There was only one egg: this the man
brought, but before he could reach me, the female had regained
the nest, and after minutely examining it and making certain that
the egg was gone, she stood up on the top, and with bill, legs,
and feet commenced throwing the straw about in the air in the
most furious manner as if beside herself with rage. Then the
male came up trumpeting vigorously, but directly he came near
she flew at him, and he scrambled off half-running half-flapping
through the water, and making more noise than ever. By
this time I had received the egg, and found the point of the
young one's bill protruding, so sent the man back with it sharp.
As he approached, the female ran off, but she must have seen
what he was at, for before (having gently laid the egg in the
disordered nest, which he smoothed a little), he could get off
the island, the female was down upon the egg, sitting as if
nothing had happened, but uttering a low chuckling sound such
as I had never heard before. But the real joke was to see the
male ; the moment he perceived that the coast was clear and
that his mate was again sitting, he came back to the nest and
paraded round and round, his wings extended, his head in the
air, trumpeting a nepouvoir plus, clearly wishing her to believe
that it was all his doing.
I have heard many stories of these birds showing fight in
defence of their penates, but this was the nearest approach to
anything of the kind I ever witnessed, and, as a rule, both
birds run away directly you get within twenty yards of the
nest.
With dogs it is different, and I have seen a large water-retriever
so buffeted, scratched, and cut in two minutes that he
was fain to make off at his best pace, howling and yelping, and
I have no doubt that foxes or jackals would fare equally ill.
Capt. Butler says :—" The hen bird, if sitting, leaves the nest
when disturbed, very reluctantly, first raising her body gradually
into an upright position, and then with head lowered almost
to the ground walks in a half-crouching attitude slowly away
from the nest. In the breeding season the two old birds
may often be seen engaged in a kind of " nautch" which is
very amusing to watch. They spread their wings and lower their
necks until they look like two game cocks about to fight ; then
all of a sudden they raise themselves and begin to dance,
trumpeting loudly all the time. Then one, or both, spring high
into the air, descending again to perform the same absurd
antics."
I have often seen this " nautch," as also the similar, but
even more remarkable, one of the Loha-sarung, (Xcnorhynchns
asiatkus.)
THE SARUS. 9
These birds occasionally lay a second time in their nests
after these have been robbed, and Captain Butler notes that
" a single egg, which I took on the 19th of September, was laid
by a bird whose nest I had robbed of two eggs on the 24th of
August, and in the same nest, while another egg that I took on
the 23rd of September was laid in a nest (not the one already
referred to) out of which I had also taken a single fresh egg on
the 19th September."
The eggs are invariably elongated ovals, and are usually a
good deal pointed towards one end ; but long, cylindrical
varieties, narrower and more elongated than even similar
varieties of the Great Bustard, are not uncommon. The shell
is very hard and strong, very rarely almost devoid of gloss,
generally, fairly, and sometimes highly glossy. The shell is
in most eggs pitted with small pores, set rather wide apart,
and in some specimens very conspicuous owing to the bottoms
of the pores being colored differently to the rest of the shell of
the egg, and thus producing a speckled effect. Usually, however,
the pits are only noticeable on close inspection, and not uncommonly
they are so fine and minute as to be scarcely noticeable
at all.
The ground colour varies,—in some it is pure white, in some
clear pale sea green, in others a sort of pinky cream colour,
and numerous intermediate shades are observable.
Some few eggs are entirely spotless and devoid of markings,
but they are commonly more or less profusely studded with
blotches and clouds of pale yellowish brown, purple, or purplish
pink. Sometimes the markings are all large ; in others,—but
more rarely,—they are small and speckly. As a rule, the
markings are, I think, most numerous at the large end. In
some they are conspicuously so, and in some they are entirely
confined to that part of the egg. As I noticed when speaking
of the eggs of the Great Bustard, the eggs of this species very
frequently exhibit pimples, warts, creases, and wrinkles; indeed,
after examining a large series, I should say that not one in
twenty was entirely free from such imperfections, but of the
hundreds of specimens that I have at one time or another taken
of this bird's eggs, I have never met with one anything like
so richly coloured as those of the Common Crane (Gins communis.)
The eggs vary excessively in size, in length from 3-6 to 4*48,
and in breadth from 2-35 to 275 ; but the average of fifty-one
eggs is 396 by 256.
T H E MALES average larger than the females ; they measure :—
Males.—Length, 560 to 6o'0; expanse, 94T. to i02'0 ; wing,
24'0 to 27'0 (to end of longest primaries, the tertiaries extend
during the breeding season from 5 to 8 inches beyond these) ;