188 GBUID,E. 



1409. Grns antigone. The Sams. 



Ardea antigone, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766). 



Grus collaris, Bodd. Tabl. PI. EnL p. 52 (1783); Tec/etmewr, Ed. 

 Blyth's Cranes, p. 45. 



Grus antigoue, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 193; Blyth, Cat. 

 p. 274; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 242 ; Jerdon, 11 . I. iii, p. 6(32 ; btoliczka, 

 J. A. 8. B. xli, pt, 2, p. 252; Hayes Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 416; 

 Hume, N. $ E. p. 584 ; id. 8. F. \, p. 234 ; Adam, ibid. p. 395 ; 

 Butler, S. F. iv, p. 14 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 227 ; Hume, Cat. 

 no. 863 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 352^ Hume $ Marsh. Game B. iii, 

 p. 1, pi., p. 435, pi. iv (egg) ; Teyetmeier, Ed. Blyth's Crane*, 

 p. 47 : Reid, S. F. x, p. 67 ; JDavidson, ibid. p. 319; Simson, His, 

 1882,' p. 93; Swinh. fy Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 133; Barnes, Birds 

 Bom. p. 340 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Sue. i, p. 59 ; ii, p. 149 ; Oaies 

 in Humes N. Sf E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 372 ; Bulkley, Jour. Bom. N. II. 

 Soc. viii, p. 148. 



Antigone collaris, Sharpc, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 262. 



Saras, Sirhans, II. ; Khui'-sany, Assam. 



Coloration. Head and upper neck without feathers, except a 

 grey patch of ear-coverts on each side, the throat and a ring round 

 the nape rather thickly covered with black hairs. Neck pure 

 white, passing at the base into the bluish ashy grey of the plumage 

 generally ; the primaries, greater primary-coverts, and winglet are 

 black or blackish brown ; secondaries towards their tips and the 

 whole tertiaries varying from grey to white. 



Young birds have the head and upper neck clad with short 

 rusty-buff feathers. The nestling is covered with down, rich 

 deep brown above, rufous on the sides and head, whitish beneath. 



Bill pale greenish horny with dark tip ; skin of crown pale ashy 

 green ; papillose skin of head and neck orange-red ; iris orange ; 

 legs reddish or flesh-colour (TicJcell). The red of the face and 

 neck becomes brighter about April, and the white neck-collar more 

 denned and conspicuous. 



Length of male about 58 ; tail 10 ; wing to end of primaries 25 ; 

 tarsus 12; bill from gape 6*5. Females are slightly smaller : 

 wing 24 ; tarsus 11. 



Distribution. Eesident throughout the plains of Northern India 

 in suitable places, from the base of the Himalayas to the Tapti or 

 perhaps a little farther in Western India, and to the Godavari 

 near the east coast. This Crane ranges west to the Indus and 

 eastward as far as Lakhimpur in Assam (unless the Assam bird 

 turns out to be the next species). Jerdon says the JSarus is 

 common in Khaudesh, but Davidson and Major Probyn found it 

 very rare there ; and it is unknown in the Bombay Deccan. The 

 statement in some works that 6r. antiyone is found around the 

 Caspian Sea is probably due to error, caused by Pallas having 

 used the name for a different species. 



Habits, fyc. The ISarus is usually seen in pairs, each pair often 

 accompanied by a young bird, or occasionally by two, in open 



