APPENDIX. 491 



them ; wc therefore cohclude, that thefe birds have 

 forfaken our ifland. They Were formerly in high 

 efteem at our tables, for the delicacy of their flefh ; 

 for they feed only on g"ain, herbs, or infects j fo 

 have nothing of the ranknefs of the pifcivcrous birds 

 of this genus. 



Its weight is about ten pounds; the length fix Defer, 

 feet ; die bill of a darkifh green, four inches long •, 

 and a little depreffed on the top of the upper mandible; 

 the top of the head covered with black briftles; the 

 back of the head bald and red, beneath which is an 

 afli-colored fpot : from the eyes on each fide is a broad 

 white line the whole length of the neck : the fore 

 part as far as the breaft is black : the quil-feathers 

 are black : the tail afh-colored tipt with black : all 

 the reft of the plumage is afli-colored. The legs are 

 black. No author except Gefner takes notice of a 

 large tuft of feathers that fpring out of one pinion on 

 each wing : thefe are unwebbed and finely curled at 

 ahe ends, which the birds have power to erect or de- 

 prefs \ when deprefled they hang over and cover the 

 tail. Gefner tells us, that thefe feathers ufed in his 

 time to be fet in gold, and worn as ornaments in caps. 

 Though this fpecies feemsto have forfaken thefe iflands 

 at prefent, yet it was formerly a native, as we find in 

 Willoughby, p. 52. that there was a penalty of twenty- 

 pence for deftroying an egg of this bird ; and 'Turner 

 relates that he has very often feen their young in our . 

 marftes. Marfigli * fays, that the crane lays two 

 eggs like thofe of a goofe, but of a bluifli color. 



* Hift. Darnth. V. p. g, 



I i V. The 



