12 Monoijvd iih of the Crmies!. 



vaues to a greater or less extent, and capable of being raised at will to form 

 a striking and beautiful adornment. Witli two exceptions only (among the 

 species with long and drooping tertiaries), all of the species of restricted 

 Grus have, when adult, the head more or less bare, and wholly or in part red 

 and papillose, brightening into crimson at the breeding season. 



With regard to the affinities of the cranes with other forms of Grulhv, I 

 entirely assent to the opinion of Mr. W. K. Parker (as quoted by Jerdon), 

 tliat "the crane is a gigantic specialised representative of the Perissirostral 

 family," i.e. of the Lindcola, or great plover and snipe series, and that they 

 are very far indeed removed from the storks and herons, which Professor 

 Euxleyhas well shown to be considerably more akin to the Totipalmati. 

 Their eggs bear a notable resemblance to those of the bustards, which 

 constitute another distinct specialised group, branching out from the 

 Limicoke. In no crane do we observe any seasonal change of hue in the 

 plumage, as is so strongly marked a characteristic of many of the ordinary 

 Limicoke ; but in some bustards the males only undergo a marked seasonal 

 change, as exemplified by Tefra.r campe.'itrii>, and by SypMotides hengalensis 

 and S. aur'da ; Otis tarda also putting forth its seasonal whisker-tufts on the 

 male sex only. In one of the small and more ordinary Liinicuhu, the 

 Pliahiropus fidicariiu^, the female sex only undergoes a seasonal change of 

 colour in the plumage, and in the genus Rhynchea the female is a larger and 

 much more richly coloured bird than its mate (as we likewise find in some 

 at least of the Turnicidce) ; but these are exceptional cases, like the 

 wondrous seasonal adornments of the polygamous RufF {Machetes pug lui.e), 

 and the development of the frontal caruncle simultaneously with change of 

 hue in the plumage of the (presumedly) polygamous male Kora {Gdllicre.r 

 cnstatus), the males in both of these instances being a third larger than the 

 females, whereas in the mass of ordinary Liinicohv the females are larger than 

 the males, as is so remarkably exemplified by Limosa lapponica and Nume- 

 luus arrH((fiis, and again by some of the Turnices (which last, however, are 

 not Lrrivicohy). In the Gruidai the male sex is invariably the larger; and 

 agam so in the ibises and spoonbills, from which latter genus Tantalus 

 must be removed and transferred to the Ciconiidre (or storks), and I rather 

 doubt whether the so-called Glossy Ibis should be regarded as a veritable 

 Ibis, rather than as appertaining to the same family as the curlews, godwits, 

 and kindred forms. In certain of the spoonbills (which unquestionably 

 belong to the family of Ibididc), there is more or less of seasonal adornment, 

 whde in the Glossy Ibis, the seasonal change of colour is as great as in any 

 of the Limicoke, the head, neck, and under parts of both sexes becoming 

 wholly of a rich dark ferruginous, as paralleled by no other form of Ibis. The 

 Ibidida; also lay spotted eggs, and (to my apprehejision at least) are as far 

 removed from the Cironiida' and Ardeidiv as are the cranes; but do they 

 approximate the latter ? Certainly, to some extent, though by no means 



