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lllV. DEMOISEI.I.E OR M'.MIDIAN CllANE.* 



The elegant species, to which the name of Demoiselle was given by the French 

 Academicians, is remarkable for its graceful symmetry of form, the tasteful disposition of 

 its plumage, and the agreeable contrast of its lighter and darker shades of colour. It 

 measures; when fully grown and in an upright position, about three feet six inches to 

 the top of the head, and its length, from the point of the bill to the tip of the tail, is 

 about three feet. 



Of these measurements, the neck and legs form a very considerable proportion. The 

 whole of the upper surface of the head is occupied by a patch of light gray ; and the 

 sides of it, together with the neck, including the long slender-pointed feathers which 

 depend from its lower part over the breast, are of a uniform, but not very intense, 

 shade of black. A tuft of pure white feathers passes off backwards from Ix'hiiul each 

 eye. Except the outer halves of the quill-feathers of the wings and tail, the re.st of the 

 plumage is of a slaty-gray. AMien the wings arc folded, the .secondary quill-feathers 

 form on either side of the body a tuft of dependent plumes, curving downwards. The 

 (jutcr halves of all the quill-feathers are of a dusky-black. 



Like the cranes iii general, the Demoiselle is migratory in its liabits. It is a native of 

 Africa. It extends along the Mediterranean and western coasts from Egypt to Guinea, 

 but is most abundant in the neighbourhood of Tripoli, and throughout the neighbouring 

 region. It arrives in Egypt in considerable numbei's, at the time of the inundation of 

 the Nile, and appears in Constantinople in the month of October, being tlien probably on 

 its pa.ssage from the Black Sea towards the south. It is also stated to have been met with 

 at the Cape of (iood Hope, and in the interior of Africa. 



This beautiful bird has frequently been brought into England, the climate of which it 

 bears extremely well. It soon becomes famiharised. Several fine specimens are in the 

 Gardens of the Zoological Society. In France it has bred in captivity, some of the young 

 birds live for twenty-four years. 



.\iUlir(ipoides Virgo. --Vii-ill. 



