i 



6 BULLETESr 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEXXM: 



Family GRUIDAE : Cranes 



=iErophoni Viecllot, Analyse, 1816, 59. 



=Gruidae Bonapabte, Consp. Gen. Ay., li, 1857 [1854], 97.— Baibd, Kep. Pacific 



R R. Surv., ix, 1858, 651, 653.— Cabus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 342. 

 =Gruidie Lilljeboeg, Proc. Zool, Soc. Lcmd., 1866, 445.— Baibd, Bbewee, and 



KiDGWAT, Water Birds North Amer., i, 1884, 350, 403.— Coues, Key North 



Amer. Birds, ed. 2, 1884, 666.— Stejnegeb, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 123. 



— ^Ameeicaw Oenithologists' Union, Check List, 1886, 138; 3d ed., 1910, 



IOC— Shabpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxili, 1894, xii, 248 ; Hand-list, i, 1899, 



xvi, 176. — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Oentr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 1903, 335.— 



WimiORB, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, 1930, art. 24, 4 ; Smiths. Misc. Coll., 



Ixxxix, No. 13, 1984, 6 ; xcix. No. 7, 1940, 6. 

 =Gruinae Bonapabte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857 [1854], 97. — FtjBBBiNGEE, Unters. 



Morph. Syst. V6g., ii, 1888, 1566.— Gadow, Bronn's Thier Keichs, Vog., il, 



1891, 184. 

 =Grues American Oenithologistb' Union, Check List, 1886, 138. — Shabpe, 



Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 74 ; Hand-list, i, 1899, xvi, 176. 

 <Grueae Bonapabte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857 [1854], 97 (genera Qrus, Antigone, 



and Leucomedontia) . 

 <Anthropoideae Bonapabte, Consp. Gen. Av., ii, 1857 [1854], 97 (genera 



Tetrapteryiv, Anthropoides, and Balearica) . 

 =Psophiid8e Mathevits, Birds Australia, iii, pt. 4, 1913, 373. 

 =Megalornithidae Wetmobe and MnxEB (W. deW.), Auk, xlill, 1926, 341. 



Large, long-legged and long-necked Grues with the hallux small 

 (much shorter than basal phalanx of middle toe) and elevated ; mid- 

 dle toe less than half as long as tarsus ; biU elongated (but much shorter 

 than tarsus), straight, nongalline; femorocaudal muscle present (ex- 

 cept in Balearica) , and with head partly naked (except in young) or 

 else adorned with ornamental plumes. 



As additional anatomical characters, it may be stated that the oil 

 gland is tufted ; rectrices 12 in number ; fused dorsal vertebrae 2-3 ; 

 hj^apophyses on cervical vertebrae only, these 19-20; spina externa 

 sterni present ; and that the wing is diastataxic. 



Although bearing some superficial resemblance to the larger herons 

 and storks, the cranes are very different structurally and far more 

 nearly related to the rails. They are omnivorous but are mainly vege- 

 table feeders, eating grain and tender herbage as well as mice and 

 other forms of animal life. 



The family has no representatives in South America, in the Malayan 

 Archipelago, or in Polynesia. Two peculiar genera occur in Africa. 

 The remaining genera are Palearctic, Nearctic, and Australian, one 

 only occurring in North America, represented by two species. 



Genus GRUS Pallas 



Ch-us PATI.A8, Misc. Zool., 1766, 66. (Typie, by tautonymy, Ardea grus Linnaeus.) 

 Pseudogeranus Shabpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, i, 1893, xxxvii. (Type, Orus 

 leucauchen Temminck.) 



