34 SIBERIAN CRANE, 



GRALLATORES. 



Family GRUIDM. f Bonaparte.) 



Genus Grus. fLitmceus.J 



Generic Characters. — Bill as long or longer than the head, strong, 

 straight, compressed, elongated as a cone at the point; the base of the 

 mandible deeply channeled ; nostrils in the middle of the beak, or basal, 

 pierced from side to side in the furrow, and closed at the back by a 

 membrane ; base of the beak and space round the eyes naked, or covered 

 with small papillae or feathers. The thigh, above the knee, naked for 

 some distance; three toes in front, the middle one united to the external 

 one by a rudimentary membrane; inner toe free; posterior toe articulated 

 higher upon the tarsus. Wings moderate; the first primary shorter than 

 the second, the latter nearly as long as the third, which is the longest; 

 secondaries nearest the body arched, or in some species very long, and 

 tufted. Tail short. 



SIBERIAN CRANE. 



Grus leucogeranus. 



Grus leucogeranus, Pallas; Sib. Reis., 1776. 



" gigantea, Vieillot; Diet. d'Hist. Nat., 18 17. 



Ardea gigantea, Gmelin ; Syst. Nat., 1788. 



Specific Characters. — The face naked, rugose, red; in the young covered 

 with scattered yellowish hairs or yellowish down ; plumage white, with the 

 first ten primaries black. Bill and legs red. Length of male three feet 

 ten inches, female four feet six inches. 



It is witTi much hesitation, and only as a doubtful European 

 species, that I introduce this beautiful bird into the present work. 



According to Nordmann it is common south of the Volga, and on 

 the -western shores of the Caspian Sea; he also says that two 

 individuals were seen by Pallas in April, in the neighbourhood of 



