GRALLATORIA. 370 
of the male forms various curves; their ceca are short, and 
even the true Herons have but one. °— 
We subdivide it into three tribes, the Cranes, the true 
Herons, and the Swans. The first tribe forms but one great 
genus. ; ; 
Grus, Lin. 
The Cranes have a straight beak, but slightly cleft; the membra- 
nous fosse of the nostrils, which are large and concave, occupy 
nearly one half of its length. Their legs are scutellated, and the 
toes moderate; the external ones but slightly palmate, and the thumb 
hardly reaching to the ground. A more or less considerable por- 
tion of the head and neck is destitute of feathers in nearly all of 
them. Their habits are more terrestrial, and their food more vege- 
table than those of the following genera: consequently they have a 
muscular gizzard, and long ceca. Their lower larynx has but one 
muscle on each side. At the head of this genus we place with Pal- 
las,(1) ' 
Psoputa, Lin., 
Or the Trumpeters, which have a shorter beak than the other 
species; the head and neck are merely invested with down, and the 
circumference of the eye is naked. They live in the woods, and feed 
on grain and fruit. 
The species best known is from South America, and is called 
the Trumpeter, (Psophia crepitans, L.,) Enl. 169, from its faculty 
of producing a low, deep sound, which at first seems to proceed 
from the anus. It is the size of a capon; the plumage is black- 
ish, which, on the breast, reflects a brilliant violet hue; the 
mantle is ash coloured, shaded above with fawn colour. It is 
a very grateful bird, and as susceptible of attachment to man as 
a dog. It is even said to be so docile as to take the command 
of the poultry-yard. It flies badly, but runs fast, and builds on 
the ground at the foot of a tree. Its flesh is eaten.(2) 
(1) Spicil. Zool. IV, 3. 
(2) At Cayenne, according to Barrere, it is called Agami; Caracara in the An- 
tilles, according to Dutertre. As the name of Z'rwmpeter is also given in Africa 
to a Calao, Fermin (Descrip. de Surin.) absurdly transfers'to the Agami the cha- 
-yacter of both beaks at once. The Agami was for a long while confounded with 
the Macucagua of Marcgrave, which is a Zinamou. Psophia is aname coined by 
Barrere from ¥c9¢0, to make a noise. 
Add, Psophia viridis, Spix, 83, and Ps. lewcoptera, Id. 84. 
