GRUS. 189 



marshy ground, on the borders of swamps or large tanks. Some- 

 times small flocks are met with. Though not regarded as sacred, 

 except in a few localities, these birds are very rarely molested in 

 India, and they are consequently tame and unwary. They have a 

 loud trumpet-like call, uttered when they are disturbed, and 

 especially on the wing. When they fly they only rise a few yards 

 from the ground. The food of this Crane is varied ; vegetables, 

 reptiles, insects, and mollusca contributing. The Sarus pairs for 

 life, and if one of a pair is killed, the survivor is said not unfre- 

 quently to pine and die. The breeding-season is in July, August, 

 and September, though nests and eggs have been found in 

 February and March. A huge nest is built of rushes, grass, &c., 

 several feet in diameter at the base, and frequently 3 or 4 feet 

 hio-h ; it is usually either in shallow water or surrounded by flooded 

 ground, and in it two eggs are laid (three very rarely). The eggs 

 are white or nearly white, blotched and clouded, thinly as a rule, 

 with pale yellowish brown and purplish grey, and they measure 

 on an average 3-96 by 2-56. 



1410. GTUS sharpii. The Burmese Sarus. 



Grus antigone, apud Jerdon, B. I. in, p. 662, pt. ; Beavan, P. Z. S. 

 1867, p. 762; Blyth, Birds Burnt, p. 157 ; Gates, S. F. v, p. 164; 

 Wardl. Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 469 ; Hume Sf Dav. S. F, vi, 

 p. 458 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 684 ; Gates, B. B. ii, 

 p. 354 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 317 ; nee. Ardea antigone, L. 



Antigone antigone, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 264. 



Grus (Antigone) sharpii, Blanf. Bull B. O. Club, vol. v, p. vii (1895) ; 

 id. Ibis, 1896, p. 136. 



Gyo-gya, Burmese. 



Coloration. The plumage generally is darker and the back less 

 pure grey than in G. antigone, and the secondaries and tertiaries 

 are grey like the back ; but the most conspicuous distinction is the 

 absence in the present species of any white ring round the neck at 

 all seasons. 



Bill and coronal skin greenish glaucous, skin of the face and 

 neck pale brick- red ; irides reddish orange ; legs fleshy pink, 

 brownish in front ( Wardlaw Ramsay). Dimensions the same as 

 those of G. antigone. 



Distribution. The plains of Burma, Siam, and Cochin China. 

 There are skins in the British Museum sent by Cantor from 

 Penang, but Hume doubts the occurrence of this bird wild in the 

 Malay Peninsula. Anderson obtained specimens at Tsitkaw, north- 

 west of Bhaino, and Hume saw several in Manipur, all probably of 

 the present species, but the limits of this and of G. antigone are 

 not ascertained. 



Habits the same as those of the last species. 



Hume once saw in Manipur (S. F. xi, p. 317) a flock of dark- 

 coloured Cranes with white heads and necks, resembling G.monachus 



