70 Monograph of the Cranes. 



The Common Crane has bred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, 

 Regent's Park. The drawing of the head of this species, PI. 2, Fig. 6, 

 was taken from a specimen in the Gardens.] 



GRUS NIGRICOLLIS, Pejevalsky. 

 THE BLACK NECKED CRANE. 

 Grus NIGRICOLLIS, Prjevalsky, Birds of Mongolia, vol. ii., p. 135. (1876.) 



[Since the publication of Mr. Blyth's monograph one previously 

 unknown species of crane has been discovered by Lieut.-Col. Prjevalsky, 

 who has described it in his work on the " Birds of Mongolia, the Tangut 

 Country, and Northern Tibet." The account was translated from the 

 Russian, and published in Rowley's Ornithological Miscellany, Vol. II., 

 p. 436, as follows : 



Grus NIGRICOLLIS, nov. sp. Juruvl chemosheyney. 



G. commimis similis, sed occipite plutnoso, rostro longiore, capite, colli dimidio 

 superiore, remigibus omnibus caudaque nigria ; vertice nudo rubro, pilis sparsis. 



Measurements of a male — length 48", width 84", wing 25"'3, tail 9"'3, culraen 4"'8, 

 height of bill at the base 1""3"2, its width 0"'92, tarsus 1U""2, uncovered part of the 

 knee 3"'8, middle toe without claw 3'''7, its claw 0"'78, hind toe without claw 0"'83, its 

 claw 0" 3. 



Culmen greenish horn-colour, lighter on the tip ; the feathered portion of the lower 

 mandible extends 0"3 further than the side-feathering on the upper mandible; legs 

 black ; iris golden yellow. 



Male. — Head and upper part of the neck smoky black ; crown naked, with a rough 

 red skin, covered with very few small hairy feathers, which cover rather thickly the 

 forehead and lores ; there is a small white spot behind the eyes. The lower portion of 

 the neck, the upper and under wing and tail coverts, and the whole body are of a pale 

 ashy colour, lighter than in Grus communis. The inner webs of the large wing coverts are 

 brownish grey ; the larger shoulder feathers arc blackish and brownish grey. Wings 

 are dull black ; the tertiaries and their coverts (all of which are black) are elongated, 

 pointed at the end, branched at the points, and turned up and raised above the tail in 

 a patch. 



This Crane vfas found by us only at Koko-nor, in a few pairs, which arrived there 

 on the 30th March, and most likely remained to breed. 



The voice of the present species is very pleasant, and much resembles that of G. 

 leucogeranus. I had not much opportunity of studying its habits, for soon after its 

 discovery we left Koko-nor, which forms the northern limit of its distribution. 



The coloured plate of this species is a facsimile of that in the Russian 

 edition of Col. Prjovalsky's volume.] 



