86 



Monograph of the Cranes. 



Yarrell says of a very old and large malej that its " note resembled the 

 sound of the word ' hoop/ repeating it loudly ten or twelve times in 

 succession." Low, in his " Natural History of Orkney," says " Like the wild 

 geese, these birds fly in the fashion of a wedge, making a fine melodious 

 clang." Macgillivray says the trachea is 3ft. 2in. in length, and that he has 

 seen, when in Harris, a flock come in from the Atlantic after a gale, and 

 listened with delight to their loud and clear trumpet-like cries as they sped 

 their way in lengthened files. 



The accompanying engravings, after Yarrell, show the diiference of the 

 sterna and windpipe in the two species. 



Steunum and Trachea of Mdte Stvan. Cygnus olor. 



In Bewick's swan {Cygnus beiuicJci) the trachea is convoluted in the keel 

 of the sternum, and, as might be expected, its note is described as having a 

 deep tone, and the bird as being exceedingly clamorous. 



Steknum and Trachea or Hooping Swan. Ci/gnus nmsicug. 



Other birds belonging to perfectly distinct natural families, neither 

 related to the cranes or the swans, are characterised by elongations of the 

 trachea, which are very diSerently placed. 



Dr. Latham, in an essay on this subject published in " The Transactions 

 of the Linnsean Society," vol. iv., 1798, figured the tracheas of several 

 birds, as the Guan and others, in which the trachea is convoluted under the 

 skin of the breast, between it and the large pectoral muscles ; but these and 

 all previous known examples fade into insignificance when compared with 

 that which occurs in Keraudren's crow shrike [Manucodia keraudreni). 

 This, which is a well-marked New Guinea form, is also found in the adjacent 

 parts of Australia. A male specimen from Cape York is to be seen in the 

 British Museum ; this is of a uniform brilliant green-black plumage, with 

 slightly lengthened ear-plumes pointing backwards. This specimen is 



