EAST AUSTRALIAN CRANE. 
“ Its flight is easy and graceful ... It lays two eggs on the bare ground 
principally about sedges and reeds on the borders of a lagoon or marsh . . . 
“ When in a flock together, it is amusing to watch their various antics. 
They will pirouette about like opera dancers as if getting up a ballet. 
They figure away, devoting all their energies to dancing and jumping, 
twisting and throwing up one leg in a most graceful manner ; then they 
will tumble upon the ground with the feet uppermost and finish by rolling 
about like a dog. 
“ When two or three fly together, they generally follow in a line ; but 
when numerous, they appear to have a leader, whose movements they 
invariably follow, sometimes forming two groups like the letter V reversed ; 
they fly to a great height, appearing like specks in the sky.”* 
“ Native Companions were found very plentiful in all the swamps in the 
Herbert district. Early in the morning their hoarse croaking cry was most 
frequently heard. ’’f 
I pointed out in 1910 {Nov. Zool., Vol. XVII., p. 499) that Perry in 
ArcaTia had first described this bird from New South Wales, and this name 
must of course be used. 
Though this fine bird was beautifully figured in the Watling Drawings 
no. 230, Latham did not consider it worthy of a name, simply ranking it as 
“ Indian Cr.[ane], Var. B ” {Suppl. IL, Gen. Synops. Birds, p. 298, 1801), 
though noting the differences thus : This differs from the others, in having 
the bill and fore-part of the crown yellowish ; lores and space round the top 
of the neck, barej and crimson ; hides pale orange ; chin and throat beset with 
black bristles; general colour of the plumage dull pale blue; quills and tail 
black; legs and bare part of the thighs black, dotted with white. Inhabits 
New South Wales.” 
Gould, in 1847-1848, separated it under the name Grus australasianus, 
and it has been known by this name until recently. 
In the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVII., p. 499, 1910, I showed that Ardea 
ruhicunda Perry 1810, should replace the name given by Gould. In the 
Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XXIX., pp. 7-16, 1912, Iredale and I gave some 
notes upon the work, the Arcana, in which Perry described Ardea ruhicunda. 
Perry gave a good coloured figure and carefuUy noted the details in which 
it differed from the Indian Crane : there can be no objection whatever 
raised to the recognition of Perry’s name. 
In 1816 lUiger had also bestowed a name upon this bird, naming Latham’s 
Indian Crane, var. B, Grus antarctica. This name seems also to have been 
overlooked, as it has over thirty years priority over Gould’s name. 
* Bennett, Gath. Nat., p. 222, 1860. 
t Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lend.) 1877, p. 340. 
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