OTINiE. 
37 
perate parts only to feed or rest for a short time, and proceed 
to the most northern regions, where they breed, nestling in 
marshy places, and laying two eggs of a greenish-grey colour, 
with brown spots. They are remarkably swift-footed, but rise 
on wing with difficulty. Their food consists of vegetable sub- 
stances, worms, and insects. 
Common Crane. 
Ardea Grus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 234. — Ardea Grus, Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. ii. 674. — Grus cinerea, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. ii. 
567. — Grus cinerea, Grey Crane, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iv. 
FAMILY XXXIII. OTIK2E. OTINE BIRDS, 
OR BUSTARDS. 
The birds of this family vary greatly in size, some be- 
ing very large, while others are so small that their re- 
semblance in form is not at first sight obvious. In external 
appearance they may be said to be intermediate between 
Partridges and Plovers ; or they resemble Gallinaceous 
birds of which the legs are elongated, and the toes short- 
ened. Their body is ovate, large, little compressed ; the 
neck long and rather slender ; the head of moderate size, 
ovate, somewhat compressed, and rounded above. Bill 
shorter than the head, moderately stout, or rather slen- 
der, nearly straight, or sometimes considerably arched, 
broader than high at the base, compressed toward the end ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line straight to the mid- 
dle, then decimate and convex, the ridge narrow, the nasal 
sinus large, and filled by a membrane which is feathered 
at the base, the edges partially inflected, the tip narrow ; 
lower mandible with the angle long and narrow, the dor- 
sal line slightly ascending and nearly straight, the edges 
sharp and direct, the tip narrow ; the gape -line little 
arched, and commencing before the eyes. Mouth of mo- 
derate width, or rather narrow ; tongue trigonal, fleshy, 
tapering ; oesophagus rather narrow, without dilatation ; 
proventriculus bulbiform ; stomach a strong gizzard, with 
the lateral muscles large, and the epithelium dense ; in- 
