( 192 ) 
The crowned African Crane. 
I T is a tall and {lately Bird ; when it walks with the Head raifed, it feems to her 
more than a Yard in Height. The Leg, from the Knee to the Bottom of the 
Heel, is nine Inches long; from the Point of the Bill to the Feathers on the Fore- 
head, is two Inches and three Quarters ; from its Point to the Corner of the Mouth* 
three Inches and three Quarters. 
The fir ft Bird, which ftands forwards on the Plate, hath its Bill fhort for a Crane, 
The Bill is ftraight and fharp-pointed, of a dufky or dark-afh-Colour ; the Noftrils 
are placed diftant from the Head ; the Eyes are placed over the Angles of the Mouth* 
and have their Indes of a Pearl-Colour ; the Forehead is very round and prominent, 
and cover’d with black Feathers like Velvet ; behind each Eye it hath a pearly-co- 
lour’d, hard, bare Skin, in the form of a Sheep’s Kidney, which rifes a little, and is 
tinctured on its upper and lower Part with Red. The black Feathers on the Head 
pafs all round thefe Spots. From the Top of the Head there fhoots out a Tuft of 
longifh Feathers, or rather ftiff Briftles, of a flattifti Make, wreathed or twifted, oF 
a dirty Orange-Colour, each of them being thinly befet on its Sides with light-co- 
lour’d Hairs, and a frnall Tuft of blackifh Feathers at their Ends. Thefe Briftles 
fpread themfelves very gracefully, in form of a Globe, and feem bigger than the 
Head itfelf. Under the Throat it hath a great red Skin, or Wattle, like the Domef- 
tick-Cock, but fingle ; this is fometimes (welled out with Wind, by Means of a 
hoarfe, difagreeable Note or Sound, which the Bird utters. The Neck, and whole 
Body above and beneath, are of a pleafant, light-bluifh Afh-Colour j the Feathers are 
long, foft and narrow on the Neck ; they are broader on the Back, but long and 
pointed. The Tail is Black, and the Feathers are pretty equal in Length. The 
greater Quills of the Wings are Black ; the inner Quills are of a dirty Red, and fall 
over the Rump when the Wings are clofed ; all the Coverts of the Wings within and 
without are White, except thofe that fall over the black Quills, (and hide them) which 
are of a pale, dufky Yellow. The Legs are bare of Feathers pretty high above the 
Knees ; the Legs, Feet and Claws, are of a dark-blackifh Afh-Colour. The hinder 
Bird (which I take to be the Hen) differs from the firft, in having the Space on its 
Cheek Red for the lower half, and White above, and in having a very frnall, almoft 
imperceptible red Gill -on its Throat, and in being Black on the Neck and Body* 
where the firft is Afh-colour’d ; in other RefpeCts they are alike. 
The firft of thefe Birds I drew at Sir Hans Sloane' s, the other at Sir Charles Wager's. The 
Academy of Paris have deferibed it fomething different from the above ; they found two Sub- 
jects, which they had in Hand, both Hens ; they call it the Royal Bird , and think it is not 
the Gras Balearic a, as has been fuppofed. See Memoires de /’ Academie Roy ale, Depuis i 666 > 
Jufqn'a 1699. Tome III. troijitme Par tie, P. 199. See alfo Willughby’s Ornithology, P. 275. 
Peiiver calls it Grus Capenjis fufea, Capite anreo galeato, Pah. 76. N. 9. Barlow calls it the 
Japan Peacock. Vijficher calls it Slruthio ex China. In Jftley's Collection of Voyages, I find this* 
Bird mentioned by feveral Authors there collected, which proves it to be a Crane of the Rivers 
Gambia and Senega. See Aftlefi s Voyages, VoL II. P. 723. He calls the Figure of it, in the 
Plate facing P. 721, the Whidah Crown Bird. This Bird hath efcaped Mr. Jibin' § Notice-. 
It is the Pavo Marinas of Clufius . See his Exot* Lib . V. Cap. 11. N. Robert has figur’d it* 
and calls it Pavo , five Cauda Chinenfis, 
