NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 231 
The Natural History of the Cranes. A Monograph by the late 
Epwarp Buyrn. Enlarged and reprinted, with illustrations, 
by W. B. Teerrmerer. 8vo. London: Horace Cox. 
1881. 
Few ornithologists were better qualified to write authori- 
tatively on the Cranes than the late Edward Blyth. A long 
sojourn in India gave him opportunities for observing many of 
the Asiatic species of Grus in a state of nature, while his position 
as Curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum at Calcutta not only 
placed him in direct communication with many good observers 
who could furnish him with reliable details of the habits of these 
birds (amongst others), but afforded him facilities for examining 
a good series of all or most of the species which he described. 
An extensive acquaintance, moreover, with ornithological literature 
enabled him to bring together the most reliable information 
bearing on the subject which had been published prior to the 
date of his monograph. This appeared in the Natural History 
columns of ‘The Field’ so long ago as 1873, and the numbers 
containing it having become scarce, Mr. Tegetmeier was induced 
to reprint it, with such additional information as had become 
available through books and papers subsequently published. An 
interval of seven years having elapsed, it is not surprising that 
these additions have proved numerous. 
The writings of Col. Tickell, Messrs. Gurney, Hume, Coues, 
and other well-known ornithologists, have all been laid under 
contribution, the result being that a very complete account of the 
Gruide, or Crane family, is now before us in book form. Omitting 
the doubtful species, Grus schlegelii and Grus fraterculus, Blyth 
recognised fifteen species of Crane, namely, the well-known Grus 
communis of Europe and Asia; the Demoiselle and Stanley 
Cranes found in Europe, Asia, and Africa; the Wattled Crane 
and two species of Crowned Crane peculiar to Africa, but of which 
occasional stragglers have been met with in Europe; the Austra- 
lian Crane, familiarly known as “the native companion”; the 
Whooping and Sandhill Cranes of North America; and half-a- 
dozen species which may be said to be confined to Asia, namely, 
Grus leucauchen, leucogeranus, collaris, antigone, viridirostris, and 
monacha. 
