THE CRANES. 
1 1 I 
THE TRUE CRANES. SUB-ORDER GRUES. 
In these birds the anterior part of the breast-bone is per- 
forated to receive the convolutions of the trachea, as m some oi 
the Swans. The palate is schizognathous and the nostrils are 
holorhinal. The tail-feathers are twelve in number. Ihe bill 
is stout and of about the same length as the head itself, the 
lower mandible being slightly grooved. 1 he nasal depression 
extends for more than half the length of the upper mandible, 
and the nostril is shut in by a membrane behind, ihe inner 
secondaries are rather longer than the primaries and hey 
are generally composed of drooping plumes, with the feathers 
rather loose and ornamental. 
I. THE COMMON CRANE. CRUS GRUS. 
Ardea srrits, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 234 (i 7 h< 3 )._ 
Grus r/«(S;ra;, Meyer and Wolf, Taschenb. ii. p. 350 (1 10), 
Macg. Brit. B. iv. p. 20 (1852); Seeb. Brit. B. 11. p. 57 ° 
(1884). .. , 
Grus communis, Bechst. ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 337 ) P • 
(1874) ■ B O. U. List Brit. B. p. 152 (1883); Saunders, 
k Yarn Brit. B. iii. p. 178 (1883) ; id. Man. Brit. B. p. 
507 (1889) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xii. (1890). 
Grus grus, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 250 (1894). 
G'hte LXXllt.) 
Adult Male General colour above dark ashy-grey ; wing- 
coverts like the back, the greater series clearer grey and some- 
what blackish towards their ends ; bastard-wing black, preceded 
by a row of grey-coverts, preceding the primary -coverts, which 
are black like the primaries, and somewhat shaded with grey 
near the base ; secondaries for the most part dark grey, more 
or less blackish on the outer webs and tips, the inner web 
lighter grey ; the innermost secondaries lanceolate, slaty-grey 
with black tips ; upper tail-covcrts grey, as also the tail-feathers, 
the latter blackish towards the ends ; crown of head and lores 
bare, only covered by blackish hair-like bristles ; nape with a 
triangular patch of dark slate-colour ; hind-neck white, as well 
