602 



fully over the tail ; legs and bare part of the thighs black ; bill greenish brown 

 at the base, tinged blackish in the middle, with the tip dark horny ; irides 

 yellowish, orange red or reddish brown in some. 



Length. 43 to 46 inches; wing about 24 ; tail 7; tarsus 875 to 9; bill 4-3 

 to 4-8. 



Hab. Europe, India, N. Africa. In India it is a winter visitant everywhere. 

 Besides occurring in Sind, it is recorded from Rajputana, Kutch, Kattiawar, 

 Deccan, N. Guzerat, Rajputana, Central India, Khandeish, Punjab, N.-W. 

 Provinces, Oudh and Bengal. It has also been found in Afghanistan, Beloo- 

 chistan and Persia. 



When feeding the Common Crane has always a sentinel posted to give the 

 alarm of danger, and hence it is extremely difficult to get within gun- 

 shot of the flock. The ordinary procedure is to walk alongside a bullock 

 or horse, as if passing by them, and to fire immediately they rise ; a duck gun 

 with large shot usually brings down 2 or 4 out of a flock. In Sind and pro- 

 bably in other parts of India too, the food of this Crane consists of grain of all 

 kinds ; when in large parties they commit great havoc in wheat fields. 



Gen. AnthropOideS. Vieill. 



Bill shorter than in Grus ; head and neck feathered ; breast feathers lan- 

 ceolate and hackled ; tarsi long. 



1280. AnthropOideS VirgO (Linn.), Bodd. Tab. PL Enl. 241 ; 

 Edw. B. pi. 134; Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 666; Murray, Hdbk., Zool. fyc., 

 Sind] Hume, Sir. F. iv. p. 15 ; Murray, Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 237. The 

 DEMOISELLE CRANE. 



Forehead, lores, sides of the face, chin, throat, neck in front, and breast 

 plumes deep black ; ear tufts white, issuing from behind the eye ; primaries 

 black ; secondaries grey, black tipped ; back, scapulars, tertials, upper tail 

 coverts and entire lower surface pale blue grey ; tertials elongated and 

 drooping over the primaries and tail feathers ; most of them with a broad 

 black tip. 



Length. 31 to 35 inches ; wing 19 to 20 or more ; tail 6 to 7^5 ; tarsus 7 ; 

 bill from gape 2-7 to 3*05 ; tertiaries project about 6 inches beyond the 

 primaries. 



Hal. Throughout the greater part of India ; rare in Sind. Occurs in Raj- 

 putana, Kutch, Kattiawar, N. Guzerat, Deccan, the Nizam's dominions, where 

 it is rare ; also in Assam, N.-W. and Central Provinces, Central India, Khan- 

 deish and Oudh. Occurs also in Afghanistan and Beluchistan and probably 

 also in Persia. In the Deccan, about the Satara and Belgaum districts, as 

 well as in the Concan and South India, it is said to be fairly common, 

 arriving about December. 



