238 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



of the wings are of a beautiful black ; the secondaries, 

 which extend beyond the base of the tail, of a bright 

 and glossy brown; and the wing-coverts pure white. 

 The cheeks and temples are entirely naked, and are 

 coloured of a bright rosy red, which sometimes over- 

 spreads the whole of the naked surface, and sometimes 

 is confined to a portion of it, the remainder in this latter 

 case becoming perfectly colourless and of a dull white. 

 Beneath the upper part of the throat a similar naked 

 space is gradually developed, which terminates in a 

 dependent fold of the skin, like the wattle of a turkey, 

 but more uniform on its surface and of a brilliant red. 

 As this prolongation is not always met with, it has been 

 considered by some writers as a mark of sex ; but of 

 the two birds examined by the French Academicians 

 the one possessed it and the other not, and yet both 

 were females. It may therefore with greater probability 

 be considered as the result of age. The fore part of 

 the head is covered by a close tuft of short, smooth, 

 even, velvety feathers of a deep black ; and behind 

 these rises a very remarkable crest, consisting of a larg^.^ 

 number of flat yellowish filaments, each twisted spirally 

 on itself, fringed along its edges with a series of black- 

 pointed hairs, and terminating in a blackish pencil. 

 These filaments are of nearly uniform length, and mea- 

 sure four or five inches from base to tip. They take 

 their origin from a roundish space on the back of the 

 head, and expand equally at their extremities into a 

 circle of considerably larger diameter than the head 

 itself. The bill, legs, and feet, are of a dusky black ; 

 and the iris is remarkable for being almost destitute of 

 colour. As in most of the birds of this family, the 

 feathers of the lower part of the neck are long, narrow, 

 and gracefully dependent over the breast. 



The Crowned Crane is a native of Guinea and the 



