722 GRUS 



point ; iris deep red. Culmen 2*8, wing 19'2, tail 7*0, tarsus 7*5 inch. 

 Female similar but rather duller, the white tufts on the sides of the head 

 smaller. 



Hob. Southern Europe, chiefly in the east, has strayed once 

 to Orkney and Heligoland, and twice to Sweden; Africa in 

 winter as far south as Natal ; Asia Minor, Central Asia, 

 Mongolia, Dauria, and Northern China, wintering in India. 



Frequents large open plains, generally not far from water, 

 which it can visit during the heat of the day. In habits it 

 resembles G. communis, but is remarkable from its peculiar 

 saltatory exercises in which it indulges in the spring. It feeds 

 on grain, insects, worms, and even reptiles, and its note is a 

 loud trumpet- like call. In the autumn and winter it often 

 collects in large flocks. It breeds in May or June, not making 

 any regular nest, but scratches a hole in the soil, round which 

 it often collects small stones, and deposits 2 eggs, which 

 resemble those of G. communis, but are as a rule darker and 

 more clearly marked, and also smaller, measuring about 3 '31 

 by 211. 



1008. WHITE-NECKED CRANE. 

 GRUS VIPIO. 



Grus vipio, Pall. Zoog. Ross. As. ii. p. Ill ; David and Oust. Ois. 

 Chine, p. 435 ; G. leucauchen, Temm. PL Col. v. pi. 449 (1838) ; 

 Tegetm. and Blyth, Nat, Hist. Cranes, p. 35 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. 

 p. 804 ; Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. p. 352 ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xxiii. p. 266 ; (Blaauw), Monogr. Cranes, p. 49, pi. xiii. and 

 pi. xviii. fig. 4 (egg) ? 



Tan-cho, Jap. 



ad. (Japan). Upper and under parts slaty grey, the latter darker ; wing- 

 coverts paler, the greater ones white at the ends ; secondaries white at the 

 base, otherwise black, the inner ones white, falcated and elongated ; tail 

 dark grey ; forehead, orbital and aural regions bare, red, and covered with 

 black hairs ; entire hind neck, sides of the upper neck and throat pure 

 white ; bill greenish ; legs bluish pink ; iris brownish yellow. Culmen 

 6'50, wing 24, tail 8'0, tarsus ll'O inch. Sexes alike. 



Hab. Eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Corea, Japan, 

 North-eastern China in winter. 



In its general habits it is said to resemble G. virgo, and like 

 that species indulges in peculiar saltatory exercises in the 

 spring. It frequents open places, both dry and marshy, and is 

 as a rule very shy and wary. Its nest is situated on a dry 



