282 GBUID^ TETEAPTEEYX 



Iris very dark brown ; bill pale ochre with a pinkish tinge ; legs 

 and feet black. 



Length to end of tail about 48-0 ; wing 23-0, to end of longest 

 secondaries 40-0 ; tail 8-5 ; culmen 3-5 ; tarsus B'S ; middle toe 

 and claw 3'6. 



The female is smaller : ■ length about 43-0 ; culmen 3-25, 

 according to Butler. 



Young birds are lighter uniform grey, are without the long black 

 secondaries and have the top of the head light chestnut. 



Fig. 91.— Head of Tetrapteryx paradisea. x | 



Distributio7i.—Th.e Blue Crane, so far as our present knowledge 

 goes, is confined to Africa south of the Zambesi ; it is most 

 abundant on the high veld plateau which occupies the greater part 

 of the centre of South Africa, from the central plains of the Colony 

 to Pretoria ; but it is found beyond these limits towards the sea, 

 though not apparentlj on the coast lands of Natal and Zululand. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Berg Eiver 

 (S. A. Mus.), Nelspoort in Beaufort West (Layard), Deelfontein, 

 common (Seimund), Hope Town (Trimen), Colesberg (Atmore), 

 Mossel Bay (Victorin), Knysna (Layard and Harris), Port Elizabeth 



