( r 34 ) 
\ ■ 
7 he Demoiselle «/Numidia. 
T H E Drawing of this Bird being taken from the Life, as it walked in a Garden, 
I could get no Meafures of it; and fhall therefore give them from the Memoirs 
of the Royal Academy at Paris , where a Diffedtion of it may be feen. “ From the 
Point of the Bill to the Ends of the Feet extended, it was three Feet and an half 5 
the Beak meafur’d two Inches. (I fuppofe it does not mean to the Angles of the 
Mouth, for that, I believe, would meafure more.) From the Thigh-Bone to the Ex¬ 
tremity of the greateft Toe was ten Inches”. (I fuppofe this laft Article means from 
what we call the Knee to the End of the greater Toe.) The above Meafures 
muff be according to the Standard-Foot of Paris. The Bird appear’d to me to be 
fomething lefs than a Heron. It has its Name from its particular A&ion in walk¬ 
ing, which refembles Dancing, by its frequent Leaping and turning round, varying 
the Motion of its Head at the fame Time. 
The Bill of this Bird, tho’ fhort for the Crane-kind, appear’d to me to be longer 
than the above Meafure : It is Ftraight and ends in a Point j the thicker Part next 
the Plead is greenifh ; in the middle Part it gradually becomes Yellow ; the Point is 
Red; the Irides of the Eyes are of a fhining red Colour ; the Head and upper Part 
of the Neck are Black, except the Crown, which is Grey. Immediately from behind 
each Eye fprings forth a Tuft of long, foft, white Feathers, which tend backward, and 
hang down behind in a very graceful Manner, and wave with the lead Air 
when the Bird is in Motion. The Fore-part of the Neck is cover’d with foft, 
long and llender black Feathers, which fall on the Breaft in a very pretty Man¬ 
ner, fometimes clofe, at other Times detached like the Ends of a Lady’s Tippet. 
The Hinder-part of the Neck, the whole Body, Wings and Tail are of a blueifh 
Afh-Colour, except the greater Quills, which are of a dufky or black Colour; the 
Tips of the Tail-Feathers are alfo blackifh. It hath pretty long Legs, the Feet not 
very long, all cover’d with dark or blackifh Scales; the Claws Black ; the Legs are 
bare of Feathers a good Space above the Knees. 
Three of thefe Birds were the Property of his Grace the late Duke of Montagu: They were 
kept at his Houfe on Black-Heath , where the Duke obliged me with a Sight of them, in order 
to take Draughts. We have a Figure of this Bird in the Memoires de /’ Academic Royale des 
Sciences, depuis 1666, jufqu’d 1699, Tome III. Seconde Partie , P. 1. where an Anatomical 
Defcription may be feen of it, as well as a Collection of all that the Ancients have laid con¬ 
cerning it. Mr. Albin has given a Figure and Defcription of this Bird : See his Numidian- 
Crane in his Hiftory of Birds, Vcl. III. P. 79. which is no more than a very lame and imper- 
fedt Figure from that of the Academy, with fome Fragments of its Defcription from the 
fame Work, as may eafily be feen, if any one thinks proper to compare them. It being a 
beautiful Bird, and rare with us, 1 thought an original Figure of it, with an immediate Def¬ 
cription in our own Language, would be acceptable to the Curious. I believe the Cock and 
Hen differ little or not at all outwardly in this Species, for the above-mention’d three, and two 
more which I faw at Sir Charles Wager'% were all alike, Mr. N. Robert has publifhed a Copper 
Plate, with feveral of thefe Birds, in all their dancing Actions, from the Birds kept in the 
Royal Managery in the Park of Verfailles. See his Book of Prints from Nature of the Birds 
in tire Managery, idle, publifhed at Paris, Anno 1676. 
I. Phi 
