4 GRALLATORES. GRUS. CRANE, 
Tail rather short, and consisting of twelve feathers. 
Wings rounded ; the first quill shorter than the second ; 
the third the longest of all. In plumage, the head more or 
less naked, or thinly clad with bristles. Upper part of the 
neck, with the feathers linear and acuminated. The rest of the 
plumage close set. Secondary quills, nearest the back, elongat- 
ed, dependent, arched, frequently with webs open and distinct. 
The genus Grus, as now restricted, contains several spe- 
cies, all birds of large size, inhabitants of extensive marshy 
plains, where they subsist upon vegetables, grains, seeds, 
worms, and reptiles. Their habits are more those of land 
birds than any of the succeeding family Ardeade, to which, 
however, they are nearly allied, forming a connecting link ; 
their plumage and appearance at the same time indicating 
their connexion with the Struthionide of the rasorial order. 
Of the various known species, only one is a native of Eu- 
rope, viz. the Grus cinerea, or Common Crane, which at one 
time appears to have been common in Britain, but is now on- 
ly found as a rare visitant. They are all birds of migra- 
tory habits, retiring, from whatever division of the globe they 
happen to belong, to more northerly or colder regions du- 
ring the summer, or period of reproduction. In most of 
the species of this genus, as well as in Anthropoides, the 
trachea of the male is of various construction, making seve- 
ral convolutions, previous to its entrance within the thorax. 
COMMON CRANE. 
Gaus cineREA, Bechst. 
PLATE I. 
Grus cinerea, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. p. 103.—Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 2. 
p- 557.—Steph. Shaw’s Zool. v. 11. 524. pl. 40.— Wagler, Syst. Av. sp. 9. 
Ardea Grus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 234. 4.— Briss. 5. p. 374. 6. t. 33.—Rait Syn. 
. 95. A. 1. 
i Grue, Buff: Ois. v. 7. p. 287. t. 14. 
Grue cendrée, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 2. p. 557. 
Aschgrauer Kranick, Meyer, Taschenb. Deut. 2. p. 350. 
