2 54 GRUIFORMES chap. 



resembling beef-steak. Cranes are easily domesticated, and, in 

 certain districts of India, in Japan, and among the Kalmuks, they 

 are held in reverence, though elsewhere they are often killed for 

 the sake of their decorative plumes. 



Grits communis, the Common Crane of Europe and Northern 

 Asia, which used to breed in Britain until the end of the sixteenth 

 century, and reaches North Africa, India, and China on the winter 

 migration, is ashy-grey, with white cheeks, nape, and sides of the 

 neck, black primaries and inner secondaries ; the crown being bare, 

 with Ijlackish bristles and red warty skin. G. liJfordi of East 

 Siberia is a lighter race. G. canadensis is a smaller species, hardly 

 different from G. mexicana, the "Sandhill Crane" of the United 

 States, which is slaty-grey, with a brownish wash. G. 7/ionacJms, 

 another similar form from Eastern Asia, has all the head white 

 except the bare portion. G. nigricollis of Koko-nor has the feathered 

 part of the head, the upper neck, the wings, tail, and inner second- 

 aries black ; G. Japonensis of North Eastern Asia is white, wdth 

 grey-black throat and fore-neck, the dark colour extending to a 

 point on the hind-neck. G. {Limnogeranus) americana, the Whoop- 

 ing Crane of the United States and Mexico, is pure white with 

 black primaries, the bristly head, lores, and cheeks being bare, 

 and covered with warty red skin. G. {Sarcogeranus) leucogeranus, 

 the Asiatic White Crane, is entirely white, except for the black 

 primaries, and has all the front of the head bare, the red skin 

 extending beyond the eye, and showing a few scattered hairs. 

 This bird ranges at certain seasons to South -East Europe. 

 G. {Antigone) collaris of India and the Caspian is light grey, with 

 brownish-black primaries, a white ring round the lower neck, 

 and white inner secondaries ; the grey-green crown is bare, the 

 occiput and upper neck are red and papillose, with black bristles 

 on the latter. The Burmo-Malay G. sharpii is distinguished by the 

 absence of white ; while both enjoy in common the name 

 " Sams." G. {A.) australasiana, the " Native Companion " of East 

 Australia, has the neck feathered, and possesses a red and green 

 gular pouch, covered with the same black hairs as the face, the 

 general coloration resembling that of its congeners. G. (Pseudo- 

 geramis) leucauchen, the " Tan-cho " or national Crane of the 

 Japanese, so often seen in their clever drawings, is grey, with 

 white hind-crown, nape, throat, and inner secondaries ; the rest 

 of the wing-quills and the tip of the tail are black, the fore- 



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