CEANES. 363 



Gen. Grus. 



Beak a little longer than head ; nostrils oblong, pierced 

 through the beak at about half its length ; legs *very high ; 

 skin on the tibia and toe roots reticulated, on the tarsi scaly ; 

 outer and middle toes joined by a web ; third and fourth 

 wing feathers longest. 



177. GKUS CINEKEA, Bechst. Trana. The Crane. D. F. 



Length 4ft.; beak about 4 in.; tarsus 10 in. ; ash 

 grey, with black wings, and a large whitish grey spot 

 on the side of the neck and head ; crown of the head 

 naked, covered thinly with hair, red and warty. 



Is principally confined to the morasses in the middle and 

 south of Sweden, although a few go up as far as Lapland. 

 They arrive here about April, and I have counted twenty- 

 nine together upon one field, just after they had come. I 

 think the loud trumpet bray of the crane, which may be 

 heard at a long distance, the wildest and finest note of any 

 bird we have. 



They breed commonly in our morasses ; the nest, a heap 

 of dry rushes and grass, flat, not unlike that of the coot ; 

 eggs, as far as I have seen, always two, nearly as large as 

 swan's eggs, greenish grey, irregularly blotched with dark 

 brown. I do not believe the old bird ever sits on the nest 

 during the day. 



178. GEUS YIEGO, Briss. Numidisk Trana. 



Much smaller than the last ; colour blue-grey ; behind 

 each ear a bushy tuft of white feathers ; pointed black 

 feathers, about 9 in. long, hang down in front of the 

 breast ; some of the wing coverts much lengthened ; 

 eye red ; beak yellow ochre, black at root ; legs black- 

 brown. 



One single example which I have seen stuffed in the 

 museum at Orebro, was shot in Nerike in June, 1857. 

 Beautifully figured in Bree's " Birds of Europe" as the 

 " Numidian crane. " 



