528 RARE BRITISH BIRDS 



THE CRANES 



[ORDER : Gruiformes. FAMILY : Oruidce] 



CRANE [Megalornis griis (Linnaeus) ; Gnls communis Bechstein. French, grue ; German, 

 Kranich ; Italian, gru]. 



1. Description. Has the top of the head and face densely covered with black bristles, a 

 patch of rough red skin on the hinder part of the crown, back of the head and nape greyish 

 black ; from the eye backwards down the sides of the neck the plumage is white ; throat 

 and fore-neck black from thence downwards, and the plumage generally is ash-grey ; primary 

 flight-feathers black, the secondaries are elongated and curled, grey tipped with black; tail 

 grey, merging into blackish towards the tips ; iris reddish ; bill greenish horn towards the tip 

 and lighter green at the base; legs blackish grey. Length 45 in. [1143 mm.]. The sexes are 

 alike in coloration. The nestling is covered with soft down ; upper parts brownish, becoming 

 rufous brown on the head, back, and rump ; under parts light reddish brown, [w. P. P. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. At present the crane breeds very sparingly in Andalucia, and it is said 

 also in the marshes of Venetia, apparently in Macedonia and Bosnia, and not uncommonly in 

 the lower Danube; in Germany in the northern provinces, especially Prussia, Silesia, and 

 Pomerania, but sparingly also in other districts; in Russia over the greater part of the country 

 north to lat. 68 ; in Finland except in N. Lapland, and in Norway and Sweden. In Asia it 

 ranges from Asia Minor east to West Siberia and Turkestan, while farther east it is replaced 

 by an allied race. European birds migrate south to North-west Africa and Abyssinia. In 

 England it formerly bred, but has not nested since about 1600, and is now only an irregular 

 visitor in winter to the British Isles. Casual on the Faeroes. Asiatic birds winter in India, 

 China, Japan, etc. [F. c. R. j.] 



[AMERICAN BROWN-CRANE [Megalornis canadensis (L.)]. Is said to have occurred in Co. 

 Cork in 1905. [F. c. R. J.] ] 



[AFRICAN CROWNED-CRANE [Balearica pavonina (L.)]. Was shot in Ayrshire in 1871 ; 

 possibly escaped. [F. c. R. j.] ] 



[DEMOISELLE-CRANE [Anthropoides virgo (L.)]. Shot in the Orkneys in May 1863, and a 

 second was seen at the same time, while one was killed at Norfolk in 1899, but possibly escaped 

 birds. It is more likely to reach our shores by natural means than the two preceding 

 species, as it breeds in the Dobrogea and S. Russia, and has occurred in Heligoland, as well as 

 in Sweden, Germany, and often in South Europe. [F. c. R. j.] ] 



THE RAILS 1 



[ORDER: Gruiformes. FAMILY: Rallidce] 



LITTLE-CRAKE [Porzdna pdrva (Scopoli). French, poule d'eau poussin ; German, Jdeines 

 Sumpfhuhn ; Italian, schiribilla]. 



1. Description. Distinguished from Baillon's crake (P. pusilla) by its larger size, by 

 the absence of the white margin to the outer flight-feather, and by its shorter secondaries, which 

 do not reach to the tip of the wing by more than an inch ; whereas in Baillon's crake they reach 

 to the end. Length 8 in. [203 mm.]. The male has the upper parts tawny brown, middle of 

 the back and rump black, with a few white spots or streaks ; under parts, including the sides of 



1 Vol. iii. p. 555. 



