of the United States. 301 



45. GRUS. 



Ardea, L. Gm. Lath. Grus, Pallas. 111. Cuv. Temm. Ranz. 

 Balearica, Ciconia, Briss. Grus, Anthropoides, Vieill. 



Bill not much cleft, straight, compressed, attenuated at 

 the point, somewhat obtuse at tip ; mandibles subequal, mar- 

 gins vertical, upper convex with a wide furrow on each side 

 at base, obliterated before the middle : nostrils placed in the 

 furrow, medial, concave, elliptical, pervious, posteriorly closed 

 by a membrane ; tongue fleshy, broad, acute : ophthalmic 

 region and lora feathered : head generally bald, verrucose, 

 sometimes crested : body cylindrical. Feet long, stout ; 

 naked space above the tarsus extensive ; tarsus more than 

 twice the length of the middle toe ; toes moderate, scutellated, 

 submargined ; outer connected at base by a rudimental mem- 

 brane ; inner free; hind toe shorter than a phalanx of the 

 middle one, articulated high on the tarsus, elevated from the 

 ground : nails short, tile-shaped-falculate, obtuse ; middle nail 

 with its cutting edge entire ; hind one longest : sole reticula- 

 ted. Wings moderate ; first and fifth primaries subequal ; 

 second, third and fourth, longest ; secondaries broader and 

 wider than the primaries ; tertials arched, or much elongated. 

 Tail short, of twelve feathers. 



Female hardly differing from the male. Young very dif- 

 ferent from the adult. Moult annually. 



Habits terrestrial. Live in fields, marshes, and salt mea- 

 dows, which they leave at night to rest on adjacent trees. 

 Food chiefly vegetable, pick up the seeds in ploughed and 

 newly planted grounds ; feed also on insects, worms, small 

 reptiles, spawn and small fishes, which they seek in marshy 

 grounds. Build in bushes, in Europe also on the roofs of 

 houses ; in marshes on clods and tufts, nest raised to the 

 height of their body with grasses and reeds, lining the tops 



Vol. IL 38 



