Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
CRANE, next to the ostrich, the largest bird found in the Holy Land, measuring 4 feet in height and 7 feet from tip to tip of its extended wings. The crane (Grus cinerea) feeds upon frogs, fish, worms, insects, and sometimes vegetable substances. When upon the wing it is always noisy, and its cry is hoarse and melancholy; hence the allusion of Isa 38:14. These birds return in the spring with great regularity from their migrations, and flocks of
thousands pass over Palestine. Jer 8:7.