*£ 



( 3° ) 



ORD. I. GENUS II. HERON. 



Bill, long, ftrong, fharp- pointed. 



Nostrils, linear. 



Tongue, pointed. 



Toes, connected as far as the firft joint by a membrane j back toe large. 



SPECIES I. CRANE. 

 PI. 144- 



Ardea Grus. Lin. Syft. I. p. 234. 

 La Grue. Brif. Orn. V. p. 374. 



This bird is five feet in length, and weighs fometimes as far as ten pounds. 

 The bill is four inches and a quarter long, and of a dark green colour : the 

 plumage moftly of an afh-colour, of different fhades: the forehead, to the mid- 

 dle of the crown, downy, and black ; the hind part of the head bare and red ; 

 below this, on the nape, a bare afh coloured fpace : the fides of the head be- 

 hind the eyes, and the neck behind, white : fore part of the neck black : quills 

 black : an elegant tuft of loofe feathers, curled at the ends, fprings from beneath 

 the pinion of each wing, and hangs over the tail : the legs are blackifh. 



The crane is now and then met with in England, but at prefent very rarely, 

 although in former days it was fometimes in great numbers. In the reft of 

 Europe it is by no means uncommon. It is migratory, and a bird of very 

 ftrong and lofty flight. Its food is chiefly of the vegetable kind, but it likewife 

 devours all forts of reptiles. It is faid to build in the marfties, and to lay two 

 eggs, for a reprefentation of which, fee PI. XXXIII. Fig. 1. 



mat 



