202 OTIDID^. 



Grus grus. Ckane. 



Ardea grus Linmeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 141 : Sweden. 



Gi-us communis BecUt. ; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 152 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 521. 

 Grus grus {Linn.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xxiii. 1894, p. 250. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A breeding-bird in 

 East Aiiglia up to the year 1590, and a regular winter 

 visitor till a later period, when its visits gradually became 

 less frequent. As a Bird of Passage it has occurred of recent 

 years in most counties o£ England, but rarely in Wales, 

 Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and the Outer 

 Hebrides. In Ireland it has very rarely been met with, 

 about ten having been obtained during the last century. 



General Distribution. — The Crane breeds in Europe from 

 Scandinavia eastwards probably to western Siberia, but iia 

 eastern limits are unknown, and southwards to Spain, Italy, 

 the Balkan Peninsula, and Turkestan. In winter it visits 

 Abyssinia and north Africa from Tunisia to Morocco. It 

 is accidental in the Faeroe Islands and north Norway. In 

 eastern Siberia it is replaced by a paler form, G. g. lilfordi, 

 which winters in south China and north-west India. 



Order CHARADRIIFORMES. 



Suborder OTIBIIS. 



Family OTIDID.^. 

 Genus OTIS Linmeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 154. 

 Type : 0. tarda Linn. 



Otis = wT-is, a kind of Bustard witli long ear-£eathers, known to tlie 

 Greeks ; from ov^, genit. wto?, an ear. 



