272 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



birds and bird hunters, we may probably have to wait a few years 

 ere we can again chronicle the demoiselle crane as a straggler to 

 our shores. 



The reader will find a well-executed coloured portrait of this 

 beautiful bird in Dr Bree's " Birds of Europe," and also a pleasing 

 account of its habits, taken from M. Nordmann. 



The following account of the plumage is taken from E. T. 

 Bennett's " Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society": 

 "The elegant species to which the French Academicians have 

 given the name of demoiselle, is remarkable for the graceful 

 symmetry of its form, the tasteful disposition of its plumage, and 

 the agreeable contrast of its lighter and darker shades of colour. 

 In an upright position, it measures, when fully grown, about three 

 feet six inches to the top of the head ; and its length, from the 

 point of the bill to the tip of the tail, is about three feet. Of 

 these measurements the neck and legs form a very considerable 

 proportion. A patch of light grey occupies the whole of the upper 

 surface of the head, the sides of which, together with the neck, 

 including the long slender pointed feathers which depend from its 

 lower part over the breast, are of a uniform, but not very intense 

 shade of black. Every part of the head and neck is fully plumed. 

 Behind each eye there passes off, in a backward direction, a tuft 

 of pure white feathers three or four inches in length. These 

 crests, as they are improperly termed, are extremely light and 

 flexible, and have their bulbs so loose as to float in graceful 

 undulations on the slightest motion of the bird. The rest of the 

 plumage, with the exception of the outer halves of the quill 

 feathers of the wings and tail, is of a uniform slaty grey. The 

 secondary quill feathers are considerably longer than the primary; 

 and, when the wings are folded, form on either side of the body a 

 tuft of dependent plumes, curving downwards towards their 

 extremities. All the quill feathers have their outer halves of a 

 dusty black. The bill is yellowish or flesh coloured; the iris 

 reddish-brown ; and the legs and claws approaching to black." 



Since the above was written, I have been informed by Mr J. 

 H. Gurney, Jun., that the Orkney specimen is now in the collec- 

 tion of W. Christy Horsfall, Esq., of Horsforth Low Hall, near 

 Leeds. 



