Crane, a wading bird of the order gralla-tores, suborder herodiones, and family graidce. In this family are included the genera grus, scops, and Balearica. The genus grus, which includes the typical cranes, has the bill longer than the head, straight, sharp-pointed, compressed on the sides, and slightly curved at the tip; the wings are long, the tertials lengthened and pendent; tail short; tarsi very long and slender, covered with transverse scales; toes rather short, the outer united at the base to the middle one, the lateral ones equal; hind toe short and elevated; claws short and strong. The cranes are large birds, frequenting marshes, muddy flats, and cultivated and open plains, migrating to warm climates in winter, and returning to the north to breed. They fly usually at night in large flocks, following a leader in two diverging lines, at a great elevation, and sometimes uttering loud cries. Their food consists of reptiles, fish, mice, and other small animals, insects, seeds, roots, and grain. The common crane of Europe is G. driereus (Bechst.). The American crane (G. Americanus, Ord) is a good example of the genus.

It has the bill dusky, and yellow toward the base; the head small, neck very long, body rather slender, tibia bare to a large extent; the bare parts on the top and sides of the head carmine, with small black hairs; feet black; plumage pure white except the primaries and their coverts, which are brownish black. The length to the end of the tail is 54 inches, and to the end of the claws 65; extent of wings 92, bill 5 1/2, tarsus about 11 inches. Young birds are of bluish gray color, with the feathers tipped and margined with yellowish brown, and the abdomen grayish blue; in this state the bird was described as 0. Canadensis. This species, called whooping crane from the loud noise it makes, is by some considered specifically distinct from the true G. Canadensis (Temm.), to which the name of sand-hill crane has been given. The cranes are found in the western and southern states from the middle of October until about the middle of April, when they retire to the north. They are very shy, and difficult to approach from the acuteness of their sight and hearing; when wounded, they should be approached with caution, to avoid the blows of their sharp and powerful bills. They roost either on the ground or on high trees, according to circumstances.

The nests are made among the high grass, of coarse materials, flat, about 18 inches in diameter, but little elevated above the surface; the eggs are two in number, bluish white, and are sat upon by both birds. They become gentle in captivity, feeding on vegetable substances. - The genus scops embraces the Numidian crane (S. virgo, Linn.), ash-colored, with a black neck, and two white tufts of elongated slender feathers covering the ear; this is often kept in captivity, and is quite gentle. The genus Balearica, peculiar to Africa and the islands of the Mediterranean, has the bill shorter than the head, thick and strong; the cheeks are naked, and the base of the bill and the throat beneath are wattled. The crowned crane (B.pavonina, Linn.) is a slender, graceful bird, about 4 ft. high, ash-colored, with a black belly, white wings, and fulvous rump; the naked cheeks are bright rose color, and the hind head is crowned with a tuft of yellow feathers or hairs, resembling the flower stems of broom corn, which may be extended at pleasure; it is often kept in captivity for its beauty and docility; its voice is remarkably shrill.

In its wild state it feeds on fish.

American Crane (Grus Americanus).

Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina).

Crane #1

Crane, a machine for raising heavy weights, and moving them short distances. In its simplest form it consists of an upright post with a horizontal beam called a jib, framed in or near its top, and braced by a stick called a stay, which is framed in the post and the jib. It is held upright, with freedom to turn round, by a pin in each end of the post, one working upon a solid support below, and the other in a beam above; or the upper support may be in a collar encircling the post and secured to a stationary object, as a wall or another post. A pulley is set in or suspended from the further extremity of the jib, by which the weight is taken up, the fall of the tackle passing around the drum of a winch attached to the lower end of the post. Such cranes are employed in founderies and upon piers, where large blocks of stone or other heavy materials are shipped or unshipped, and are set upon some barges to be always at hand for moving their heavy freight. Their construction is, however, generally a modification of the simple form described. The horizontal jib has often a narrow rail upon its top, upon which a flanged wheel traverses, supporting the pulley.

This admits of the weight being brought nearer to the post, so that it may be placed upon any part of the circular area included in the sweep of the jib. Cranes are often made with the jib set at an inclination of 45° or thereabouts, and stepped at its lower end in a framework of iron, which carries also the winch, and may be turned around the post which it encircles. In these the foot of the post is set strongly in mason work, and no support is required to steady it at top. The jib is kept up by tension bars placed above it and extending horizontally from its extreme end to the top of the post. Cast iron has been much employed for some years, instead of timber, for the construction of cranes; and Mr. Eairbairn of England introduced the use of plates of wrought iron, riveted together and arranged in tubular form, on the principle adopted in the building of the Britannia tubular bridge. - The power employed to work cranes is usually that of men turning the winch. In some situations they are conveniently connected with machinery running by steam or other power, and their movements are controlled by a lever brought to bear with as much friction as may be required upon the barrel of the winch by a rope held in the hand of the man who manages the machine.

They have also been made to work by the pressure of a column of water upon a movable piston, a valve in the supply pipe being used to control the movement. Steam also has been applied to work a small engine connected directly with the barrel of the winch. The most powerful cranes ever built are those contrived by Mr. Albert Bishop of New York, and generally known as Bishop's boom derrick. Derrick is a name commonly applied to cranes on shipboard and elsewhere. The construction of an ordinary crane is represented in the article Casting, fig. 3. - What is known as a travelling crane, used in heavy founderies and machine shops, is not strictly a crane, but a suspension bridge, supported at either end upon trucks which move upon securely supported tracks at a sufficient elevation above the floor, and at the sides of the room. Upon the bridge there is also a track upon which a car travels, from which are suspended chains for hoisting. A windlass upon the car furnishes the motive power. As the bridge moves from end to end of the room, and the car upon it, across, the latter may be placed immediately over objects to be raised.