BALEARIC CBANE. 35 



it will be necessary, -until we have further proofs, not to admit 

 this bird into the fauna of Sicily. Perhaps Schembri has not placed 

 it among the Maltese birds because it has been absolutely denied as 

 a Sicilian bird by Benoit." 



It feeds on worms, insects, and small fish. I am unacquainted 

 with its breeding habits, but I dare say they differ but little from 

 those of the other members of the family. 



The adult male has the crown of the head, from the front of the 

 occiput, covered with soft black feathers like velvet; the sides of the 

 head are bare of feathers, the white skin shaded above and below 

 with red; the shape of this denuded part being like that of a 

 kidney or ear-lobe; on each side of the throat hangs a kind of 

 wattle, larger in some individuals than others, and of a red colour; 

 on the occiput is a tuft, composed of hair or rather bristles arising 

 close at the base, and spreading out on all sides in a globular form, 

 of about four inches in length. The neck, back, rump, scapularies, 

 crop, abdomen, flanks, upper part of the thighs, and the upper and 

 lower tail coverts, are of a bluish ash; the feathers which on the 

 lower part of the neck are long, terminate in a point, and rest on 

 the crop; some of these feathers are seven inches long. All the 

 under and the lesser upper wing coverts are white; the greater 

 coverts nearest the body are russet, the farthest removed blackish; 

 primaries black; secondaries maroon, those nearest the body very 

 long, and when the wing is closed extend nearly as far as the 

 longest primary. The tail is composed of twelve blackish feathers. 

 The iris grey white; beak grey brown. The naked part of the thighs 

 and feet are blackish ash-colour; claws blackish. 



The female is black where the male is blue ash, the wattles 

 on the throat are wanting, and the long pectoral feathers less con- 

 spicuous. 



The following are Brisson's measurements: — Length from tip- of 

 beak to end of tail two feet nine inches; from beak to end of claws 

 three feet eight inches; beak from point to the oral angle two 

 inches and a half. Tail five inches; bare part of thigh four inches 

 and a half; tarsus eight inches ten lines; middle toe three inches 

 and a half; outer two inches seven lines; interior two inches four 

 lines; hinder toe one inch. Expanse of wings five feet six inches, 

 and when closed they extend just to three fourths of the length of 

 the tail. 



My figure is taken from a living specimen in the Zoological 

 Gardens, Regent's Park. 



