DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



the reeds, whence its strong voice is heard, simi- 

 lar to that of a bull. 



The crane and its congeners fill the three 

 shelves of the forty-second case. On the first 

 is the sun bird, also called the small rose peacock. 

 This beautiful bird, which is nearly the size of a 

 partridge, lives on the banks of rivers in Guyana. 

 The different colours of its plumage are rather 

 dark, but shaded with such delicacy that they 

 can be compared to those of the most beautiful 

 moths. By its side is the agami of South Ame- 

 rica (psophia crepitans), also called the trum- 

 peter, from the hollow sounds it utters, which 

 seem to come from its abdomen ; its plumage is 

 blackish with metallic shades of blue and violet ; 

 it is so easily tamed, that it conducts the farm- 

 yard fowls as dogs do the flocks. Below it, is 

 the royal or crowned crane (ardea pavonina) ; 

 its voice is like the sound of the trumpet; its 

 shape is slender, its cheeks coloured with the 

 brightest rose and white, and the bunch of light 

 feathers which crowns its head expands or keeps 

 close at pleasure ; it inhabits the w r estern re- 

 gions of Africa, as well as the ardea virgo, which 

 is brought up as an ornament for parks, on ac- 

 count of its elegant forms and singular move- 

 ments. The common European crane and that 

 of southern Africa, are at the bottom of the case. 



