156 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



130. ANTIGONE SHARPI Blanford. 

 SHARPE'S CRANE. 



Antigone antigone ( not Ardea antigone LINN.EUS ) SHABPE, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus. (1894), 23, 264. 



Antigone sharpii BLANFOBD, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1895), 5, 6. 



Antigone sharpei SHABPE, Hand-List (1899), 1, 178; GATES, Cat. Birds' 

 Eggs (1902), 2, 94; McGfiEOOB, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 11, 

 pi. 2; McGBEGOB and WOBCESTEB, Hand-List (1906), 31. 



Tipol, Luzon. 



Luzon (McGregor, Worcester). Burma, Cochin China, and Malay Peninsula. 



Adult. Nearly uniform pearl-gray, lighter on neck; head and neck 

 nearly naked to 100 mm. or more below anterior border of ear-coverts; 

 a few gray feathers on chin and ear-coverts; a few scattered black hair- 

 like feathers on upper throat and its sides. 



An adult female taken in- Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, in Septem- 

 ber, yields the following data : Legs rose-pink, brown along the tarsi ; nails 

 blackish; most of bill and forehead pale dirty green; tip of bill gray; 

 iris yellow ; papillose parts of head and neck red, darker behind the ear- 

 coverts. Weight, 5 kilos. Length, 1,270; extent, 2,200; wing, 565; tail, 

 220; culmen from base, 178; bill from front margin of nostril, 103; 

 tarsus, 275; middle toe with claw, 117; hind toe with claw, 24. Another 

 specimen from northern Luzon measures; culmen from base, 160; bill 

 from nostril, 92 ; tarsus, 280 ; middle toe with claw, 107. 



Sharpens crane is abundant in the vicinity of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija 

 Province, Luzon. When I observed them in September, 1908, they were 

 feeding in pairs and frequenting a grassy plain. Two badly decayed eggs 

 were taken from a nest which consisted of a little grass arranged on the 

 ground in circular form. The eggs are white marked with a few lavender 

 spots and dented with numerous, small, elongated pits. The surface is 

 hard and smooth, very slightly glossy, and with a few small lumps about 

 the larger end. When held toward the light the shell appears through 

 the hole to be dark green. These eggs measure 91.5 by 63 and 97.5 

 by 64.6. 



This species has been reported from the Candaba Swamp in central 

 Luzon and Worcester found it abundant in northern Luzon. He says: 

 "I saw Antigone sharpei in large numbers in Cagayan and Isabela during 

 my recent trip, 1906, through those provinces. I am informed that 

 these birds nest on the ground in May, contenting themselves with 

 scraping together and flattening down a little grass on which to deposit 

 their eggs. About August they lose their long wing-feathers and when 

 in this conditions can rise but a few feet from the ground. The people 

 of Isabela then pursue them on horseback and take them with lassoes, 

 although according to the statements of the hunters the birds, aided by 

 their wings, run about as fast as deer. 7 ' 



