THE DEMOISELLE CRANE, 39 
with reiterated cries, inclinations of the head, and other demon- 
strations,” : 
I have never seen the eggs of this species, and authentic eggs 
are uncommonly rare. Dresser says that they are, as a rule, 
smaller, darker, and more clearly marked than those of the 
Common Crane which I have already fully described, and that 
they vary from 3°05 to 3°55 in length, and from 2°02 to 2:2 in 
breadth. 
I po not find that the sexes in this species differ in any way in 
size. I have recorded the measurements of sixteen adults, and 
find that some males areas large, and some as small, as any 
female, and vice versd. 
Length, 31:0 to 35°6; expanse, 66°0 to 73°0; wing, 18°0 to 
210; tail from vent, 6°0 to 7°5 ; tarsus, 6:25 to 7°8; bill from 
gape, 2°7 to 3:05 ; weight, 5 Ibs to 6°75 ibs. 
The tertiaries project from 40 to 6:0 inches beyond the 
primaries in birds killed in March; perhaps during the breeding 
season they are somewhat more elongated. 
The irides in the adult are red, varying from crimson to ver- 
milion; in the young they are brown, and every intermediate 
shade occurs in more or less immature birds. The bill varies 
a good deal ; it is generally greenish, with a reddish tinge at tip ; 
in some I have noted it sea green at base, yellowish towards the 
middle, and pink at tip; in another yellowish at tips, greenish 
horny at base; the legs and feet are normally black, but I 
shot one specimen, a large male, but probably a sickly bird, in 
which they were only a dusky slate colour, and in this bird, 
though it was certainly an adult, the irides were orange red. 
THE PLATE very fairly represents our bird, and is most credit- 
able to a comparative novice like Miss Herbert. 
The young bird differs from the old in having the sides of the 
head, chin, and throat, grey instead of black as in the adult ; 
the ear tufts are very little developed, and are grey ; the pectoral 
plumes are very little developed, and only the central ones 
blackish brown ; the tertials are not developed at all. 
CRANES, subdivided by ornithologists into several genera, are 
distributed pretty well over the whole of the world, but appear 
to avoid, to a great extent, the smaller islands. In Asia, 
besides those already noticed, we have G. viridzrostris, like the 
Snow-Wreath, but with a green bill and black legs ; G. vzpi0, of 
-a slatey grey, with the nape and entire back of neck white, and 
red legs ; and G. monachus of a dark brownish slatey colour, with 
the head and upper part of the neck all round, white, and 
brownish green legs, all of which seem to belong to Japan and 
