238 



AVES. 



Fig. 11".— Sternum of the Aga 



The best known species {Ps. crepitans, Lin.), inhabits South America, and is called the Trumpeter, from its 



faculty of producing a low, deep sound, which at tirst seems to 

 proceed from the anus. It is the size of a large Capon ; plumage 

 black, with reflections of brilliant violet on the breast ; and an 

 ashy mantle tinged with fuhous above. This bird soon recog- 

 nizes per.sons, becomes attached to them like a Dog, and when 

 domesticated, it is said, may be left to take charge of other 

 poultry. It flies badly, but runs with great swiftness, and nestles 

 on the ground at the foot of a tree. Its flesh is considered good 

 eating. 



[The location of this very singular species among the Cranes, 

 is by no means satisfactory ; but we do not know that it can be 

 placed to greater advantage elsewhere. Its port resembles that 

 of the Struthious birds (or Brevipennes) ; and the configura- 

 tion of the sternum (fig. 117) is unique, not even approaching 

 that of any other group. The trachea is much elongated, and 

 continued under the skin of the abdomen, which occasions tlie 

 sound of its voice to appear to come from that part. Upon the 

 whole, we conceive that it is as nearly allied to the Tinamous, 

 which inhabit the same region, as to any other known genus, and 

 would prefer to detach it in a more marked manner from that of 

 the Cranes. It has also some remote affinity with Palamedea. 



The Restricted Cranes {Grus, Bechstein) — 

 Have ample wings, and considerably longer neck and legs. Their figure is much more elegant and 

 graceful ; and they feed on corn, and upon reptiles ; chiefly frequenting humid districts in fit cks that 

 are often numerous. They do not run with speed ; but have singular habits of attitudinizing, with 

 expanded wings, and circling around each other with a light and tripping step. Their \oice is v, ry 

 loud and harsh. Naturalists have further subdivided them, first into 



The Balearicans {Balearica, Vigors), — 

 The occiput of which is adorned with a peculiar bushy crest, composed of erect and crimpled barbless 

 stems of equal length ; the forehead is clad with short and close feathers, of velvety appearance ; and 

 the throat is furnished with fleshy wattles. The sternum resembles that of a Heron ; but the furcula 

 is not anchylosed to its ridge, as in the others, nor does the trachea undergo any convolution ; the 

 laryngeal muscles are attached to the first true ribs. These birds perch with faciUty, and are very 

 readily domesticated. 



Two species are known, from eastern and western Africa respectively ; the first with a pale grey neck, and much 

 larger fleshy wattles, (B. regidorum) ; the other, which is more commonly brought alive to Europe, having a blackish 

 neck and small wattles (B. pavonia). Both have also naked cheeks. 



The rest have lengthened tertials, and no crest: the furcula is soldered to the sternal keel, and the 

 latter is hollow and inflated to receive the trachea, which imdergoes a convolution within it, as in 

 several Swans. Such are 



The Demoiselles {Anthropoides, Vigors), — 

 Which have the head and neck quite feathered, and the tertials hanging over the tail to reach the 

 ground. They are confined to Africa, like the last. 



The Paradise Demoiselle (G. paradisaus, Vieillot ; Anfh. Stanleyanus, Bennett).— A large species, entirely of a 

 delicate ashy-grey colour ; the plumage of the head short and erectile, having very much the appearance of infla- 

 table skin. The Numidian Demoiselle {Ardea virgo, Lin.) is much smaller, and characterized by a black neck, 

 with two elegant whitish tufts on the sides of the heatl, formed by the prolongation of the ear-coverts. 



Finally, 



The True Cranes {Gnis, Vigors) — 

 Have the beak as long as the head, or longer ; the head and part of the neck generally naked ; and the 

 tertials commonly recurved. The species are ccmiparatively numerous, and much more widely 

 distributed. Habits migratory. 



One is common in Europe, and sometimes occurs, but as an exceedingly rare straggler, in the British Isles, the 

 European Crane (^)-rfm .(yfrK*, Lin. ; Grus ciwecca, Bechst.)]— Four feet and upwards in height, of an ash-colour, 

 with a black throat ; the summit of the head red and naked. This bird has been celebrated from the earliest 

 ages, on account of its regular migrations, from north to south in the autumn, and back in the spring, which it 

 eflfects in numerous and well-ordered flocks. It feeds on grain, but prefers the worms and insects of marshy 



