568 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Family GRUIDZ, or CRANES. 
The Cranes are a very small and well-defined family, but great difference 
of opinion exists as to their affinities. Forbes supposed them to be nearest 
related to the Ibises and the Plovers, but Sclater places them in the same 
order as the Bustards. The Cranes have no notch in the posterior margin 
of the sternum. In the modification of their cranial bones, in their ptery- 
losis, myology, and in their digestive organs they appear to be nearest 
allied to the Bustards and Rails. 
There can be little doubt that the Cranes moult twice in the year, early 
in autumn and in spring. Cranes shot on the autumn migration are said 
to be in perfect plumage ; and Naumann says that they sometimes arrive 
at their breeding-places before the spring moult is quite complete. 
The Cranes somewhat resemble in their external characters the Herons 
and the Storks, but may be distinguished from both by their much shorter 
bill, which resembles in some respects that of the Plovers. The wings 
are long, and the innermost secondaries are lengthened and pendent. The 
tail is short and even, and composed of twelve feathers. The hind toe is 
small and somewhat elevated. . 
The young of the Cranes, like those of the Rails and the Bustards, are 
covered with down when they are hatched, and they are able to run shortly 
afterwards. 
It is supposed that there are only 16 species of Cranes, which are dis- 
tributed over all the large continents of the world, but are absent from the 
Arctic and Neotropical Regions and from all the smaller islands. Three 
‘species of Crane are European, two of which are said occasionally to visit 
our islands. 
Genus GRUS. 
The Cranes were associated by Brisson with the Storks, and by Linnzeus 
with the Herons; but in 1793 Bechstein established the genus Grus for 
their reception in his ‘ Naturgeschichte Deutschlands ’ (ii. p. 60), and the 
Common Crane, being the Ardea grus of Linnus, became of necessity 
the type. 
The true Cranes have been separated from the Crested Cranes in con- 
sequence ef the absence of the bristly occipital crest, and on account of 
