GRUID.E. 667 



male bird watches whilst the female is incubating, and fights 

 , boldly if attacked. They are said to dance among themselves, 

 and will often seize hold of any small article, toss it up in the 

 air, and catch it as it descends. It is also stated that they 

 occasionally eat mice, snakes, &c, lifting them up and dashing 

 them down on the ground till quite dead. 



The Karkarra makes a fine flight with a Bhyri, occasionally 

 two or three miles ; it never uses its beak in self-defence, but 

 is very apt to injure the falcon with its sharp inner claw. A 

 well trained Bhyri therefore always strikes this Crane on the 

 back and never on the head. The mate of the stricken quarry 

 often turns and comes to the rescue of its companion. It is shy 

 and difficult to approach when resting, but less so when feed- 

 ing, and it is well w^orth a little trouble, as it is one of the 

 best birds in India for the table, and the praises of "roast coolen" 

 are sung by many sportsmen. The name Kllung, transformed into 

 Coolen, is wrongly applied to this species by many sporting writers, 

 it being always used for the common Crane by falconers and the 

 best shikarees. The name Karkarra appears to be nearly the 

 same word as is used by the Mongols of Central Asia according to 

 Pallas, viz., Karkarror, and is evidently an imitation of its call. 

 This species is common in Northern Africa, and is occasionally 

 killed in the South of Europe. 



The Stanley Crane, Grus paradisea of Africa, is placed in this 

 genus by Gray; but Bonaparte separates it as Tetrapteryx. Another 

 beautiful species is the crowned Crane, Balearica pavonina of 

 Northern Africa, a rare visitant to the South of Europe ; and 

 a second species of the same group occurs in Southern Africa, B. 

 regulorum. 



Near the Cranes perhaps should be placed those remarkable 

 birds, the Agami or Trumpeter-birds of South America, forming 

 the family Psophiidce of Bonaparte. In these birds the bill is 

 shorter than in the true Cranes, the head and neck covered with 

 down, and the orbits nude. The best known species is Psophia 

 crepitans, Lin., about the size of a small Turkey, the plumage 

 black, glossed with purple below, and with an ashy mantle ; the 

 sternum narrow throughout, with a low keel, and entirely without 



