Appendix. 



83 



the " Transactions of the Linnean Society." The voice of this species is 

 described by Mr. Ayres as a loud guttural note, which is uttered when the 

 birds have risen to an immense height in the air. 



Steenijm and Tkachba of Stanlbi Okanb. Qrus vwgo. 

 The Saras Crane of India, Q. antigone, I am fortunate in having had an 

 opportunity of dissecting. The subject of my post mortem investigation 

 was an old male that died in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, in 

 1879. In this species the convolutions of the trachea are carried out to a 

 much greater extent. In the adult the keel of the sternum is formed of two 

 vertical plates, with an interval varying from an inch to half an inch between 

 them. This is partly filled with cancellated, spongy cells, in which the 

 trachea is embedded, gradually becoming more and more convoluted as the 

 bird advances in age. The engraving shows the left side of the keel cut 



Steknum and Teacdia of Sabas Obane. Qrus anUgone. 

 away, with the trachea curled up within it. It may be noticed that there 

 are four folds of the windpipe contained within the keel, whereas there are 

 only two in the Stanley Crane. For the voice of this Crane I may quote 

 Col. Tickell, who writes : " One of my party having shot a female near 

 the camp, I was distressed throughout the night by hearing the wailing, 

 trumpet tones of the bereaved male calling fruitlessly for the dead." 



The Sandhill Crane of North America [Q. canadensis) has been described 

 as having no convolutions of the trachea within the sternum ; but Mr. T. S. 

 Roberts, writing in the American Naturalist, 1880, has shown, by the 

 dissection of several specimens, that this view is incorrect, the error possibly 



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