374 AVES. 



Certain Cranes, foreign to Europe, with a shorter beak than is 

 found in those that belong to it, should come next. 



Ardea pavonia, L..; Grue couronnS; Enl. 265, and the young, 

 Vieill. 257. (The Crowned Crane.) Figure, light and graceful; 

 four feet in height; ash coloured, black belly, fawn coloured 

 rump, and white Avings; its naked cheeks are tinged with white, 

 and a bright rose-colour, and its head is crowned with a bundle 

 of yellow, slender feathers, which it opens and displays at plea- 

 sure. This beautiful bird, whose voice resembles the clang of 

 a trumpet, inhabits the western coast of Africa, where it is fre- 

 quently kept in the huts, and fed on grain. In a wild state it 

 frequents inundated places, and preys on small fish. 



Ardea virgo; Demoiselle de Numidie; Enl. 246. (The N-umi- 

 dian Crane.) Similar to the preceding in form, and almost in 

 sizej ash coloured;' a black neck with two beautiful whitish 

 aigrettes, formed by the prolongation of the slender feathers 

 which cover the ears. Those which have been observed in a 

 state of captivity were remarkable for their fantastic and affect- 

 ed gestures. (1) 



The Common Cranes have a beak as long as the head, or longer. 

 Ardea grus, L.; Grus cinerea, Bechst., Enl. 769; Frisch, 194? 

 Naum. Ed. I, 2, f. 2. (The Common Crane.) Four feet and 

 upwards in height; ash coloured; black throat; top of the 

 head, red and naked; the rump ornamented with long, recurved 

 and frizzled feathers, partly black. This bird has been cele- 

 brated from the earliest ages for its regular migrations from 

 north to south in the autumn, and vice versa in the spring, 

 which it effects in immense and well ordered bodies. It feeds 

 on grain, but prefers the Avorms and insects of marshy grounds. 

 This species is often mentioned by the ancient writers, because 

 the course of its migrations seems to be through Greece and 

 Asia Minor. (2) 



Between the Cranes and Herons we must place 



Ard. scolopacea, Gm.; Le Courlan, Enl. 848,(3) whose beak, 



(1) The anatomists of the Institute had apphed to this bird, on account of its 

 gestures, the names of Scops, Otus, and ^sio, by which the ancients designated 

 the Dues of Europe (Bubo). BufTon, who had so well refuted this error as re- 

 garded the Dues, falls into it himself when speaking of the ^rd. virgo. 



(2) To this genus also belong Jlrd. canadensis, Edw. 133; the Grue d collier, 

 Enl. 865, and the Crane of India, Edw. 45, {rd. antigone) Vieill., Gal. 256; the 

 Grue blunche, Enl. 889, {^rd. americana) and the ^rd. gigantea. Pall., It., II, No. 

 50, t. I, which does not appear to us to differ in the least from the white onci 

 finally, the ^rd. carunculaia, which is not a Heron, as supposed by Gmelin. 



(3) Vieillot has made his genus Ahamus, Gal. p. 252, from this bird; Spix, pi. 

 91, calls it Rallus ardeo'ides. 



