54 Monograph of the Cranes. 



Mr. Sclater, in the letter-press accompanying Mr. Wolf's admirable 

 pourtrayal of this magnificent species, suggests that the name japonensis 

 implies an erroneous habitat ; but, as I have seen it unmistakably repre- 

 sented upon Japanese screens (as the white-naped crane is much more 

 commonly), and also on fundry other Japanese drawings, I think that it 

 might safely enough be assumed, without further evidence, that it does 

 occur in the Japanese archipelago, rather than that it is there occasionally 

 imported from China. Indeed, Mr. Swinhoe asserts that it is an inhabitant of 

 North China and Japan. " It is frequently," he tells us, " seen in captivity 

 in Shanghai. It is the emblem of longevity among the Chinese, and the 

 subject of many pictures and works of art." {Pr. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 309.) 

 Subsequently, he states that it is brought to market at Shanghai and at 

 Pekin. {Ibis., 1871, p. 403.) I find also that it is enumerated among the 

 birds of Dauria, of Amur-land, and of Eastern Siberia. In the notice 

 of the White-Naped Crane is cited a Japanese drawing, reproduced 

 by Sir Rutherford Alcock, in which both species are represented. 

 Vide also Kaempfer, as cited in the same page. The Mantchurian Crane 

 bred for three consecutive seasons in the menagerie attached to the Paris 

 museum ; and Mr. Bartlett's elaborate account of the young being hatched 

 and reared in the Eegent's Park establishment has already been quoted in 

 detail at page 7. [There is at present a female only of this superb species in 

 the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, the head of which is represented in 

 plate 2, fig. 1. The vignette at the commencement of this account is 

 reduced from Mr. Wolf's delineation.] 



GRUS AMERICANA (Linn.). 



WHITE OR WHOOPING CRANE. 

 Ardea amekicana, Linn. Sys. Nat. 1, 234. (1776.) 

 La Geue blanche d'Ameeique, BufF. PI. Enlum., 889. (1783.) 

 Geus steuthio, Wagler, Syst. Av. Sp. 6. (1827.) 

 Geus hotianus, Dudley, Proc. Phil. Acad., vii. p. 64. (1854.) 



This species is commonly styled the Whooping Crane, and sometimes 

 popularly miscalled "The White Stork." It is rather larger than G. 

 communis, with more robust bill ; the plumage of the adult pure white, 

 with the exceptions of the wing primaries and winglets, which are black, 

 and a slaty occipital patch corresponding to what is seen in G. communis ; 

 webs of the erectile tertiaries partly discomposed, but not to so great an 



