106 



Length to end of bill, 



Length to end of claw, 



Length to end of wing, 



Extent, 



Length of wing from flexure, 



Length of tail, 



Tarsus, 



Middle toe, 



Middle toe claw, 



Hind toe, 



Hind toe claw, 



Outer toe, 



Outer toe claw, 



Inner toe, 



Inner toe claw, 



Bill along the ridge, 



Gape to tip of lower mandible, 



Depth of bill opposite centre of nostril, 

 Breadth of bill opposite centre of nostril 



Length of nostril, 



Breadth of nostril, 



Milli- 

 metres. 



Sir John Richardson, in the narrative of his expedition in search 

 of Sir John Franklin, expresses the opinion that these two birds are 

 of different species; he founds his opinion on the facts that the 

 Brown bird breeds farther north, and is larger than the white one. 

 On referring to the Fauna Boreali-Americana^ I do not find the 

 measurements of the Grus Canadensis ihere given to be larger than 

 those of the Grus Americana. The length of both birds is the 

 same, forty-eight inches ; but all the other measurements of the 

 Canadensis are smaller than those of the Americana, the tarsus 

 and wing being each three inches, and the bill two inches shorter 

 than the same parts of the Whooping Crane. The length of 

 Audubon's specimen of the Whooping Crane is fifty-four inches, 

 and his two Sandhill Cranes are respectively forty-five and a half 

 inches, a little larger than the average of my specimens. I am 

 inclined to think that notwithstanding Richardson's usual accu- 

 racy, he must have formed his opinion of the superior size of the 

 brown bird, either from a comparison of the two birds as seen at 

 a distance, or else from an imperfect recollection of the size of 

 the Whooping Crane ; as, although he mentions obtaining speci- 

 mens of the Sandhill Crane, he says nothing about procuring any 

 of the Whooping Crane. If, however, the northern brown bird 

 should prove to be larger than the white one, it cannot, of course, 

 be the young of that bird, and, in that case, as the Sandhill Crane 



