248 



Family V. GRUIDiE. 



Palate schizognathous. 



Nostrils schizorhinal. 



Kectrices 12. 



Caeca between five and six inches long. 



Oil-gland tufted. 



Sternum with no notches on the posterior margin, but perforated 

 anteriorly to receive the convolutions of the trachea. 



Occipital foramina present ; basipterygoid processes absent ; supra- 

 orbital impressions peculiar — " the nasal glands occupying the 

 truncated edge of the cranium above the orbits, hardly appearing on 

 its upper surface " {Forhes, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 643). 



No powder-down patches. 



Ambiens muscle present. Pemoro-caudal and accessory femoro- 

 caudal muscles present (absent in Balearica). Semitendinosus and 

 accessory semitendinosus muscles present in all. 



Bill equal to or rather longer than the head, the nasal depression 

 extending rather more than half the length of the maxilla, the nostril 

 shut in by a large posterior membrane ; lower mandible slightly 

 grooved. 



Inner secondaries rather longer than primaries, and generally 

 composed of drooping plumes with dissociated webs. 



Nest built on ground or in shallow water. 



Eggs double-spotted, light olive-brown or grey with reddish-brown 

 spots. 



Nestling covered with down and able to run in a few hours. 



\_Cf. Seebohm, Classif. B. p. 39 ; Stejn. Stand. Nat. Hist. Birds, 

 p. 123 ; Sharpe, Classif, B, p. 74.] 



Key to the Genera. 



A. Without straw-like bristles on the nape; 

 nostrils linear, 

 a. Grown of head hare, with more or less granu- 

 lation on the hinder crown, hut the ear- 

 coverts feathered like the hinder cheeks and 

 sides of neck; inner secondaries slightly 

 falcate and pointed, not much produced, 

 generally with drooping plumes, consist- 

 ing of decomposed feathers. 

 a'. The cheeks feathered hkethe ear-coverts. 1. Grus, p. 249. 

 b'. Fore part of cheeks bare, like the top of 

 the head. 

 a". Entire crown hare to the nape; fore- 

 head, lores, and whole of cheeks bare, 



covered with black bristles ; region [p. 259. 



below and behind the eye feathered . . 2. Limnogebanus, 

 b". Fore part of crown bare, feathers of the 

 neck ascending to the hinder crown; 



lores and region of the eye bare; hinder [p. 260. 



cheeks feathered 3. Sarcogebanijs, 



