36 



GRUIN.E. GRITS. 



elongated hexagonal scales on the sides, and larger scales 

 behind ; toes four, the first very small, the anterior rather 

 short and stout, scutellate, the outer longer than the inner, 

 and connected with the third by a basal web ; claws short, 

 decurved, rather obtuse. The greater part of the head bare, 

 or sparsely covered with hair-like feathers. Plumage soft, 

 but imbricated ; the feathers with moderate down-plumules, 

 those of the neck small, oblong. Wings very long and ample, 

 of about thirty-five quills ; the third quill longest, but little 

 exceeding the outer two ; the inner secondaries much elon- 

 gated, curved downwards, and with their filaments loose to- 

 ward the end, some of their coverts similarly elongated ; tail 

 short, rounded, of twelve feathers. 



Although the Cranes have by most authors been associated 

 with the Herons, which they somewhat resemble in form, 

 they differ very essentially from these birds in having the 

 mouth narrow, the stomach muscular, and the intestine fur- 

 nished with two co2ca. Their young also run with celerity 

 from the first. 



161. GRUS CINEREA. GREY CRANE. 



Fore part of the head and loral spaces bare, or sparsely co- 

 vered with black hairs, and of a bluish-black colour ; crown 

 also bare and bright red ; bill greenish-black, greyish-yellow 

 toward the end ; plumage ash-grey ; fore part of neck and a 

 triangular patch on the nape dark-grey ; a band of dull white 

 from the eye down the side of the neck ; primary quills grey- 

 ish-black ; the elongated decurved inner secondaries grey, 

 with the filaments loose and blackish-brown. The young, 

 according to M. Teraminck, have little or no bare space on 

 the top of their head before the second autumnal moult, and 

 the blackish-grey colour of the fore part of the neck and the 

 nape does not exist, or is merely indicated by longitudinal 

 spots. 



Male, 49, . . , 21, 4J, 9J, 3, T V Female, 44. 



Although Cranes are said to have formerly bred in the fens, 

 they are now of extremely rare occurrence in England, not so 

 many as a dozen individuals being recorded as having been 

 killed there within these forty years. The last example oc- 

 curred in Shetland in 1831. On the Continent, they arrive in 

 flocks, arranged in lines or triangles, about the end of spring, 

 generally keeping at a great height. They alight in the tern- 



