GRALL.E. 



351 



355. GRUS JAPONENSIS. 



(SACRED CRANE.) 



Ardea (Gnts) japonensis, Miiller, Natiirsj-st. Suppl. p. 110 (1776), 



The Sacred Crane has a wliite body like the Siberian White 

 Crane, but the forehead, lores, chin, fore neck, lower hind neck, and 

 disintegrated tertials are black. No other Japanese Crane has a 

 white body and a black fore neck. 



Figures : Wolf, Zool. Sketches, series i. pi. 46 ; Tegetmeier, Nat. 

 Hist. Cranes, pp. 13, 53. 



Grus japonensis. 



The Sacred Crane, so called because it was formerly held sacred 

 in Japan, and was only allowed to be hawked with great ceremony 

 by nobles of the highest rank (otherwise known as the Manchurian 

 Crane, because it breeds in that country), has been known as a 

 Japanese bird from time immemorial. It is the Ciconia grus japo- 

 nensis of Brisson ; the Ardea grus /3 of Gmelin ; the Japan Crane 

 of Latham ; la Grue du Japon of BuflPon ; and the 0-tsuri or Tsuri- 

 sama of the Japanese. In 1823 it received the name of Grus viridi- 

 rostris (Vieillot, Tableau Encycl. et Meth. iii. p. 1141); in 1829 



