30 HERON. 



CRANES. THE HEAD BALD. 



3— SIBERIAN CRANE. 



Ardea gigantea, Ind.Orn.W. 674. Gm.Lin.i. 622. Gmel. reise, ii. 1S9. t. 21. 

 Grus leucogeranos, Pall. It. ii. 714. 30. t. I. Georg. reise, 171. Dec. russ. ii. 145. 



Ghnel. reise, iv. p. 137. 

 Siberian Crane, Gen. Syn. v. 37. Arct. Zool.W. 455. C. Id. Sup. 67. 



THIS is a large bird, and four feet and a half high, when erect. 

 The bill like that of a Crane, but larger, and red ; the edges of the 

 mandibles serrated near the tip; face naked beyond the eyes, rugose, 

 red, and sprinkled with numerous, rufous tubercles; irides white ; 

 plumage white, except the ten first great quills, with their coverts, 

 which are black ; the scapulars are elongated, but shorter than in 

 the Crane; tail of twelve feathers, nearly even at the end; legs 

 long, and red. 



In old birds, the hind part of the neck is yellowish, but in those 

 of the first year, wholly of an oker colour, with the face, bill, and 

 legs of a greenish brown. 



Inhabits the vast marshes and lakes in Siberia, especially about 

 the Ischim, and along the Rivers Ob and Irtish, and on the borders 

 of the Caspian Sea; makes the nest among the reeds, seldom acces- 

 sible by man, upon rising, green, grassy tufts, composed of herbs 

 and grass heaped up together; the eggs ash-coloured, the size of 

 those of a Goose, and spotted with brown ; they are shy birds, always 

 on their guard against an enemy, and said to have an advanced 

 sentinel, to warn them of an approach, and on the least alarm cry 

 aloud, in the manner of the Swan, and fly off directly ; hence it is 



