238 
AVES. 
The best known species (Ps. crepitans, Lin.), inhabits South America, and is called the Trumpeter, from its 
faculty of producing- a low, deep sound, which at first seems to 
proceed from the anus. It is the size of a large Capon ; plumage 
black, with reflections of brilliant violet on the breast ; and an 
ashy mantle tinged with fulvous above. This bird soon recog- 
nizes persons, becomes attached to them like a Dog, and when 
domesticated, it is said, may be left to take charge of other I 
poultry. It flies badly, but runs with great swiftness, and nestles 
on the ground at the foot of a tree. Its flesh is considered good 
eating. 
[The location of this very singular species among the Cranes, 
is by no means satisfactory ; but we do not know that it can be 
placed to greater advantage elsewhere. Its port resembles that 
of the Struthious birds (or Brevipennes) ; and the configura- 
tion of the sternum (fig. 117) is unique, not even approaching 
that of any other group. The trachea is much elongated, and 
continued under the skin of the abdomen, which occasions the 
sound of its voice to appear to come from that part. Upon the 
whole, we conceive that it is as nearly allied to the Tinamous, 
which inhabit the same region, as to any other known genus, and 
would prefer to detach it in a more marked manner from that of 
the Cranes. It has also some remote affinity with Palamedea. 
Fig. 117.— Sternum of the Agami. 
The Restricted Cranes {Grus, Bechstein) — | 
Have ample wings, and considerably longer neck and legs. Their figure is much more elegant and |j 
graceful ; and they feed on corn, and upon reptiles ; chiefly frequenting humid districts in fl; cks that ^ 
are often numerous. They do not run wdth speed ; hut have singular habits of attitudinizing, with 
expanded wings, and circling around each other with a light and tripping step. Their voice is vtry 
loud and harsh. Naturalists have further subdivided them, first into 
The Balearicans {Balearica, Vigors), — I] 
The occiput of which is adorned with a peculiar bushy crest, composed of erect and crimpled barbless^ 
stems of equal length ; the forehead is clad with short and close feathers, of velvety appearance ; and I 
the throat is furnished with fleshy wattles. The sternum resembles that of a Heron; but the furcula 
is not anchylosed to its ridge, as in the others, nor does the trachea undergo any convolution ; the ; 
laryngeal muscles are attached to the first true ribs. These birds perch with facility, and are very 
readily domesticated. 
Two species are known, from eastern and western Africa respectively ; tlie first with a pale grey neck, and much ; 
larger fleshy wattles, {B. regulorum) ; the other, which is more commonly brought alive to Europe, having a blackish ' 
neck and small wattles {B. pavonia). Both have also naked cheeks. 
The rest have lengthened tertials, and no crest ; the furcula is soldered to the sternal keel, and the : 
latter is hollow and inflated to receive the trachea, which undergoes a convolution within it, as in I 
several Swans. Such are 
The Demoiselles {Anthropoides, Vigors), — 
Which have the head and neck quite feathered, and the tertials hanging over the tail to reach the 
ground. They are confined to Africa, like the last. 
The Paradise Demoiselle (G. paradiseeus, Vieillot ; Anth. ^tanleyanus, Bennett). — A large species, entirely of a j 
delicate ashy-grey colour ; the plumage of the head short and erectile, having very much the appearance of infla- ! 
table skin. The Numidian Demoiselle {Ardea virgo, Lin.) is mr, ffi smaller, and characterized by a black neck, ;j ; 
with two elegant whitish tufts on the sides of the head, formed b> the prolongation of the ear-coverts. [ 
Finally, 
The True Cranes (Grus, Vigors) — | 
Have the beak as long as the head, or longer ; the head and part of the neck generally naked ; and the f ' 
tertials commonly recurved. The species are comparatively numerous, and much more widely 
distributed. Habits migratory. 
One is common in Europe, and sometimes occurs, but as an exceedingly rare straggler, in the British Isles, the 
European Crane {Ardea grus, Lin. ; Grus cinerea, Bechst.) ] — Four feet and upwards in height, of an ash-colour, 1 
with a black throat ; the summit of the head red and naked. This bird has been celebrated from the earliest | ' 
ages, on account of its regular migrations, from north to south in the autumn, and back in the spring, which it < 
efibcts in numerous and well-ordered flocks. It feeds on grain, but prefers the worms and insects of marshy | ? 
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