290 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Family GRTJID-ffi. 



In America the Cranes are confined to the northern por- 

 tion of that continent, but in the Old World they are much 

 more widely dispersed, being found throughout Africa and 

 Asia, and one extends to Australia; still they are not very 

 numerous in species, about fifteen being all that are known. 



Genus GRUS, Linnaeus. 



The Australian member of this genus is, as far as I am 

 aware, confined to that country ; in India it is beautifully re- 

 presented by the Grus anticjone, and in Europe by the G. 

 cinerea. 



Sp. 543. GRUS AUSTRALASIANUS, Gould. 



Australian Crane. 

 Native Companion of the Colonists. 



Grus australasianus, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. pi. 48. 



The Grus australasianus is abundantly distributed over the 

 greater portion of Australia from New South Wales on the 

 south to Port Essington on the north ; but although it is thus 

 widely diffused, it has not yet been observed in the colony of 

 Swan River, and it does not inhabit Tasmania. It was fre- 

 quently observed by Leichardt during his overland expedition 

 from Moreton Bay ; Captain Sturt states that it was very 

 abundant on the Macquarrie; and I found it numerous in 

 the neighbourhood of the Namoi and on the Brezi Plains 

 in December 1839, as well as on the low flat islands at the 

 mouth of the Hunter. In these localities it might then have 

 been seen at almost every season of the year, sometimes 

 singly or in pairs, and at others in flocks of from thirty to 

 forty in number. 



Like other members of the genus Grus, it is stately 'and 



