Mr. A. Hume on Indian Orniihologij . 31 



" Karekhurs"^ have been in the habit of yearly spending their 

 winters in the same locality. 



Though occasionally in larger flocks, it is usual to find either 

 a pair of old ones accompanied by a single young one, or small 

 parties of five or six, which then, as far as I can judge, consist 

 exclusively of birds of the second year. 



The fully adult birds are, even when they first arrive, of 

 snowy vt'hiteness; and each pair is almost without exception 

 accompanied by a young one, which, when first seen, is of a 

 sandy or buff" tint throughout f, and very noticeably smaller 

 than its parents. The males arc considerably larger and 

 heavier than the females, the adults of the former weighing up 

 to 19 lbs., but of the latter only — as far as my experience goes — : 

 to about 16 lbs. In length, too, the male is sometimes close on 

 56 inches, with an expanse of 100 inches ; but out of eight adult 

 females examined, these dimensions in none exceeded 53 and 

 92 inches respectively. Of the young birds, however, when they 

 first arrive, the males do not exceed about 10 lbs. in weight, 

 and the females 9 lbs., though generally very fat and well cared 

 for by the parents. 



Yv'hen we first see them, they cannot, I estimate, be more 

 than six months old. The testes and ovaria of adults examined 

 this year, on the 20th of March, vi'ere still, if I may use the 

 term, quite dormant ; and, allowing for the '^ passage home," 

 the pairing-season, and incubation, they can scarcely hatch off 

 before the middle of May. 



They never appear to have more than one young one with 



* Professor Max Miiller justly ridicules the excessive length to wliicli 

 what he denominates the " Bow-wow theory " of the origin of words has 

 been pushed by some comparative etymologists ; but, in the case of the 

 Cranes, the Hindu names in use, in this portion of northern India, clearly 

 owe their origin to the cries of the several birds. TJius, Gnts cincrea 

 is called '' Kooroouch", or " Koorch " ; Anthripoides viir/o, " Kurrkurra " ; 

 and G. leucuc/eranus, " Karekhur " ; each of these names, when pronounced 

 by a native, being an appreciable imitation of the cry of the pavticidar 

 species it serves to designate. 



t [Compare Mr. WolTs clever figure of the young Grus montif/nesia, a 

 very closely-allied species, hatched in the Zoological Gardens (P. Z. S. 

 18G1, p. 309, pi. XXXV.).— Eu.] 



