of the United States . 
301 
45. GRUS. 
Ardea, L. Gm. Lath. Gras , Pallas. 111 . Cuv. Temm. Ram . 
Balearica , Ciconia , Briss. Grus , Anthropoides, Vieill. 
Bill not much cleft, straight, compressed, attenuated at 
the point, somewhat obtuse at tip ; mandibles subequal, mar- 
gins vertical, upper convex with a wide furrow on each side 
at base, obliterated before the middle : nostrils placed in the 
furrow, medial, concave, elliptical, pervious, posteriorly closed 
by a membrane ; tongue fleshy, broad, acute : ophthalmic 
region and lora feathered : head generally bald, verrucose, 
sometimes crested: body cylindrical. Feet long, stout; 
naked space above the tarsus extensive ; tarsus more than 
twice the length of the middle toe ; toes moderate, scutellated, 
submargined ; outer connected at base by a rudimental mem- 
brane ; inner free; hind toe shorter than a phalanx of the 
middle one, articulated high on the tarsus, elevated from the 
ground: nails short, tile-shaped-falculate, obtuse ; middle nail 
with its cutting edge entire ; hind one longest : sole reticula- 
ted. Wings moderate ; first and fifth primaries subequal ; 
second, third and fourth, longest ; secondaries broader and 
wider than the primaries ; tertials arched, or much elongated. 
Tail short, of twelve feathers. 
Female hardly differing from the male. Young very dif- 
ferent from the adult. Moult annually. 
Habits terrestrial. Live in fields, marshes, and salt mea- 
dows, which they leave at night to rest on adjacent trees. 
Food chiefly vegetable, pick up the seeds in ploughed and 
newly planted grounds ; feed also on insects, worms, small 
reptiles, spawn and small fishes, which they seek in marshy 
grounds. Build in bushes, in Europe also on the roofs of 
houses ; in marshes on clods and tufts, nest raised to the 
height of their body with grasses and reeds, lining the tops 
Vol. II. 38 
