*74- 01{3\CiTH0L0gr. Book III. 



The First Part. 



Of Cloven-fcotect Water-fowl, wading in 



Waters, or frequenting watery places. 



The First Section. 



The great eft Cloyen-footed Water-fowl of ajtngular hjnd. 



Chap. I. \§ I. 

 The Crane : Grus, Ti&v& Grxcis. 



*His is a large-bodied Fowl, weighing fometimes ten pounds. Meafuring frorri 

 the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail it is well nigh five foot long. 

 That it hath a very long Neck is fo well known that it is needlefs to write it: 

 Its Legs alfo are very long. 



Its Bill is ftreight, (harp-pointed, of a dark greeniih colour, near four inches long, 

 comprefled fide-ways: Its Tongue broad and horny at the tip. The top of the Head 

 black 5 from the Bill to the hinder part covered with black hairs or briftles rather 

 than feathers. On the back of the Head it hath a fpace or bed of the figure of a 

 Crefcent, bare, or thin fet with hairs, and of a red colour : Below which, on the up- 

 per part of the Neck is a triangular Ipot of aih-coloured feathers. Two white lines 

 or ftroaks, one from each Eye, are produced backwards, and meeting behind the 

 Vertex of the now mentioned triangular fpot, are thence continued as far as the Bread. 

 The Throat and fides of the Neck are of black hue. The Back, Shoulders, covert- 

 * Excepting feathers of the Wings*, Breaft, and all the Belly and Thighs areafh-colOuredj only 

 Smoft°'o the t ^ ie q u tt"f eat h ers °f the Wings, and thofeon the utmoft Pinion are black. 



oynt. The Wings are very large: The quii-feathers are in number twenty four, and ( as 

 we faid) black, yet the lelier of them from black incline to- red or rufiet, as do alfo 

 the primary covert-feathers which are on the utmoft joynt or Pinion. The Tail for 

 the bignefs of the bird is fmall and ftiort, round when lpread, confiding of twelve 

 feathers, all cinereous, with blacktips. 



The Legs are black, bare of feathers' for ari hand breadth above the Knees: The 

 Toes black, and very long. The lower joynt of the outmoft and middle Toe con- 

 nected by a thick membrane. 



But that which is moft rare, and eipecially remarkable, yea, wonderful in this 

 bird, is the conformation of the Wind-pipe. For entring far into the Breaft bone, 

 which hath a great cavity within to receive it, and being there thrice reflected (as 

 the figure ad joyning to the fculp of the Crane reprefents ) goes out again at the fame 

 hole, and fo turns down to the Lungs, 



The blind guts are five inches long. The Stomach or Gizzard mufculous as in gra- 

 nivorous birds. The flefh is very favoury and well-tafted, not to lay delicate. 



We faw many Cranes to be fold in the Poulterers (hops at Rome in the Winter time. 

 Which Ifuppofe had been fhotontheSea-coaft. 



They come often to us in England : And in the Fen-Countries in LincolnJJme and 

 Cambridge/hire there are great flocks of them, but whether or no they breed in Eng- 

 land C as Aldrovandus writes, he was told by a certain Englifi man, who faid he had 

 often feen their young ones) I cannot certainly determine either of my own know- 

 ledge, or from the relation of any credible perlo'n. The delicate tafte of the flefh and 

 the mufculous Stomach are fufficient arguments to evince, that this bird feeds not at 

 all uponfifh, but only upon herbs, grain, and feeds of divers forts, and it is likely up- 

 on Infects too : As the Authors alfo that have written of it unanimously report. 



Cranes differ from Herons, i. In that the Claw of the middle toe is not ferrate as 

 in Herons: 2. In bignefs, wherein they exceed them: 3. In having a fliorter Bill: 

 And 4. a mufculous ftomach or Gizzard: 5. Two Appendices or blind guts, 

 whereas Herons have but one : 6. In the ftrange revolution of the Wind-pipe within 

 the Breaft-bone, §, II* 



