Jib. V.] 



ZOOLOGY. 



685 



Grus Canadensis. Brown Crane. 



The Cranes have been separated from Ardea by modern writers, and now con- 

 stitute the genus Grus: hence the name at the head of this article. It may be 

 supposed that the Brown Crane is rare in the United States, for Wilson does not 

 seem to have seen it, and he conjectures, under the head of the Hooping Crane, 

 that it is the young of that bird ; there are, however, abundant points, independent 

 of the colour of the plumage, to convince those who compare them, of the dif- 

 ference. Hearne says, that the Brown Crane is much more numerous in Hudson's 

 Bay than the Hooping Crane, and that its flesh is considered good for eating : it 

 frequents the lakes of the northern parts of America, breeding there, and retires in 

 the winter southward, probably to Mexico and the warmer countries west of the 

 Mississippi. This bird was originally published by Edwards ; his figure of it is, 

 however, much too splendid. Linnaeus founded the species on Edwards's de- 

 scription. The specimen sent home is probably of a male, its size exceeding 

 that which is mentioned by authors : it is upwards of four feet in length, 

 which is nearly a foot longer than the measure assigned by Pennant. The top of 

 the head is bare, with a few black hairs on it : the bill, to the junction of the 

 mandibles, five inches long ; back of the head ash-coloured, tinged with rusty ; the 

 whole of the plumage of the body is dark ash colour ; the primary quill feathers are 

 dark brown with white shafts, and the other feathers of the wings are lighter than 

 the rest of the plumage ; the legs are bare for four inches above the knee. 



Argea Lentiginosa. American Bittern. 



The history of this bird is very singular; it was first described by Edwards, who, 

 though he stated some difference, especially that of size, between it and the Common 

 Bittern (Ardea Stellaris) left it unsettled whether it should be considered as a distinct 

 species or not. Linnaeus did not notice it, nor did he refer to Edwards, and every 

 subsequent writer until the year 1813, included it as a variety of the European 

 species. In that year appeared the Supplement to the Ornithological Dictionary 

 of the late Colonel Montagu, in which is described and figured, a specimen of a young 

 bird of this species, as a British bird, under the name of Ardea Lentiginosa. Mon- 

 tagu's account is, that the bird was shot in the autumn of 1814, at Piddleton, in Dor- 

 setshire, by Mr. Cunningham, who sent it fresh to Colonel George, of Penryn, in Corn- 

 wall, in whose museum it was called Ardea Minuta, and under that name purchased by 

 Colonel Montagu. If the above account of the place where the bird was killed be correct, 

 it must either have escaped from some menagerie, or have been driven by accident from 

 the North American coast to the British shore. Colonel Montagu , not aware what the 

 bird really was, described it, and doubting whether it was new or previously known, 



