336 GETJID^. 



feathering on the head and neck, and the different distribution of the plumes on these 

 portions of the body, have been deemed by some recent writers to be of sufficient 

 importance for the separation of many of the Cranes into distinct genera, but this 

 division does not commend itself to us. 



The genus is represented in the northern portions of both hemispheres during the 

 summer, the species migrating south in winter. All the Cranes more or less resemble 

 each other in habits. 



1. Grns canadensis. 



The Brown and Ash-coloured Crane, Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, ill. p. 133, t. 133 '. 



Ardea canadensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 234 '. 



Grvs canadensis, Duges, La Nat. i. p. 142'; Lawr. Mem. Best. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 311*; Baird, 



Brew., & Ridgw. Water- Birds N. Amer. i. p. 407'; Herrera, La Nat. (2) i. pp. 185% 327'; 



Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 256 '- ; A. O. U. Check-1. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 



p. 75 \ 

 Grmfraterculus, Boucard, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 461 '°. 

 Grus mexicana (nee Miill.), Jouy, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. xvi. p. 790 ". 



Schistacea, tectiicibus alarum pallide ferrngineo margiuatis ; primariis nigris, extus pallido schistaceo lavatis, 

 secundariis cineraceis, intimis longioribus, decompositis ; cauda schistacea ; pileo nudo rubescente, nucha 

 et collo postico clare sohistaceis, guttare et praepectore laetioribus; plumis subocularibus. gems et gatture 

 albis; subtus schistacea : rostro et pedibus nigricantibus ; iride coccinea. Long, tota circa 400, alae 21-5, 

 caudae 7'2, culm. 6-2, tarsi 0*o. (Desor. maris adulti ex Tarpon Springs, Florida. Mus. nostr.) 



$ man similis. 



Eab. Aectic and Subabctic Noeth Amehica, breeding from the Fur Countries and 

 Alaska to the Arctic Coast, migrating southward in winter into the \Yestem 

 United States ^. — Mexico, Mazatlan [Grayson •^), San Luis Potosi {Jouy ^^), 

 Guanajuato {Duges ^), Valley of Mexico {Herrera ^ ''), Tizimin, Yucatan 

 {Gaumer ^*'). 



The Little Brown Crane visits Mexico in winter on migration, when it leaves its 

 breeding-home in the high north. Grayson * says that it makes its appearance in 

 Mazatlan in considerable numbers as early as the month of September, disappearing 

 again before the end of March. Jouy writes ^^ that this bird was numerous in 

 winter time at the Hacienda Angostura in San Luis Potosi, frequenting the cultivated 

 fields ; it was often seen in large flocks circling high in the air, its loud cry being 

 distinctly heard, even when the birds were almost out of sight. A single specimen 

 was also shot at an " aguada " near Tizimin in March, and this was the only example 

 observed by Dr. Gaumer in Yucatan ^^. 



G. canadensis arrives at its Arctic breeding-place in the early part of May, and is 

 very plentiful in the marshy grounds which it affects. The nests are placed on dry 

 knolls, but they sometimes consist merely of a large depression scooped out in the 

 sand and lined with dry grass. 



