THE CRANES 



2231 



of medium size, the beak short and swollen, with its base convex, and its tip bent 

 down and compressed; the leg is long, with much of the tibia bare, and the toes 

 (of which the third and fourth are connected by a basal membrane) furnished 

 with sharply-pointed claws. The short wings have the fourth quill the longest; 

 the tail is abbreviated, and the plumage is generally elongated above, while beneath 

 it becomes downy. In the common trumpeter, or agami (P. ocdpitans), the general 

 hue of the plumage is black, with 

 purple and greenish reflections in 

 certain parts, and steely blue on the 

 lower neck and breast. The iris is 

 reddish brown, the bare skin round 

 the eye, as well as the leg, flesh 

 colored, and the beak grayish white. 

 The trumpeters are forest-haunting 

 birds, living in troops, which may 

 number as many as a hundred or two 

 hundred head, and taking their name 

 from the peculiarly-clear and trumpet- 

 like cry, which is uttered with 

 widely-opened beak, and lasts for 

 fully a minute. To produce this 

 deep-toned cry, the windpipe is spe- 

 cially modified, being elongated so as 

 to extend under the skin of the ab- 

 domen. The trumpeters are poor 

 flyers, nesting on the ground beneath 

 the foot of trees, where they lay ten 



or more bright green eggs, and subsisting on fruits, corn, and insects. By the 

 natives of Brazil these birds are tamed and domesticated for the purpose of protect- 

 ing ordinary poultry; and in this state exhibit remarkable attachment and affection 

 toward their owners, whom they follow about as closely as does a dog. 



TRUMPETER. 



THE CRANES 

 Family GRUIDJR 



For a long period associated with the herons and storks, to which they present 

 a marked outward similarity, the cranes differ widely from those birds in the struc- 

 ture of the palate, and the condition of their newborn young, as well as in many 

 features of the anatomy of their skeleton and soft parts. Externally, cranes are 

 characterized by their elongated legs and neck; generally long beak; the long wing, 

 with ten primary quills; the plumed and elongated inner secondaries; the short, 

 twelve- feathered tail, and the elevation of the small first toe above the level of the 

 other three. In their skeleton they differ from all the preceding families of this 



