Of this enormous bird we have the following account: A young one, about
five feet high, was taken and tamed at Sierra Leone. It was fed in the
large dining-hall, and at dinner-time always took its place behind its
master's chair--frequently before the guests entered. The servants were
obliged to watch their provisions narrowly, and defend them from the
crane by means of switches; but notwithstanding all their precaution,
it would frequently snatch something or other, and once purloined a
whole boiled fowl, which it swallowed in an instant. When threatened
with punishment, it would open its enormous bill, and roar like a bear
or tiger. It swallowed every thing whole, and on one occasion took, at
one mouthful, a leg of mutton weighing five or six pounds.