62 
Chick. Similar to that of Bdledvica pdvonina.. 
Egg. Of a uniform pale blue without spots. Figured of the natural size plate XVIII n°. 6 from a specimen laid 
in the Zoological Garden of Amsterdam. The accounts which attribute a spotted egg to this species are doubtless founded 
upon error. Eggs of this Crane in the Leiden Museum are of the uniform colour as above described, and birds in con¬ 
finement always lay pale blue eggs. The number of eggs is two or three. 
Hab. South Africa, south of the 9th parallel, and up the east coast north to the Equator. 
The first thing to be done with the present species is to restore to it the name '■regulorum', of which it was 
deprived by Mr. Tegetmeier in 1880, and to cast away the inappropriate term chrysopelarguE which was never meant 
for a Crane at all, but for the Black Stork. 
The history of the present species is shortly as follows. — Edwards in his ‘Natural History of Birds’ recognized 
two forms of Crowned Cranes, but mistook them for male and female, taking B. regulorum for the male and B. pavonina 
for the female, and Buffon continued this error. The older Lichtenstein seems to be the first who specifically distinguished 
the Southern and the Northern Crowned Cranes — at any rate his son Professor Lichtenstein mentions this as being 
the case. His distinctions and appellations, however, seem never to have been published until, in 1833, Mr. E. T. Ben¬ 
nett, Vice-Secretaiy of the Zoological Society of London, exhibited at a Meeting of that Society several specimens of the 
two species of Crowned Cranes, with the view of settling the specific distinctness of the two forms. Mr. Bennett proposed 
to adopt for the Southern bird Lichtenstein’s name '■regulorum', retaining pavonina for the Northern form. Since that 
time the name 'regulorum' has been generally used, until Mr. Tegetmeier, thinking that Lichtenstein’s description i) of his 
Golden-Stork from Caffreland was applicable to the Cape Crowned Crane proposed to change its specific name to 'chry- 
sopelargus. To everybody who reads Lichtenstein’s description of Ardea chrysopelargus it will be evident that this 
description applies to the Black Stork {Ciconia nigra) which also occurs in South Africa, and not to the Crowned Crane 
of the Cape. The Cape Crowned Crane ought therefore to be called Balearica regitlornm (Bennett) and the name '■chry- 
sopelargns which was never meant for it should be placed amongst the synonyms of Ciconia nigra, as has been done 
already by Giebel and Dresser. 
In a recent article in the “Journal flir Ornithologie” Dr. Reichenow has proposed to separate the Crowned Crane 
of German East Africa from the Crowned Crane of South Africa, under the name gibbericeps". This separation is based 
on the fact that in some specimens of this species from German East Africa the upper part of the naked skin of the white 
cheeks, which is generally coloured red, is more or less swollen. I have found, however, after careful examination, as 
well of living birds as of skins, that some living birds which undoubtedly come from South Africa have these parts more 
or less swollen, and that others from German East Africa have it often quite smooth. On examining skins, in which this 
so-called distinction is always much more visible than in living examples, I find the case for separation even worse, for 
in some specimens one side of the head has the skin smooth, whilst the other side has it apparently swollen. This is the 
case with an example from the Transvaal in the British Museum. If therefore Dr. Reichenow’s specimens of Crowned 
Cranes from East Africa in the Berlin Museum all have these upper parts swollen, I simply attribute it to the way in 
which they have been prepared. If the skinner after turning back the skin over the skull draws it back sufficiently the 
typical B. regulorum is obtained; if this is not done and the upper part of the naked cheeks remains just over the 
pointed projections of the skull these parts seem to be swollen and the form named B. gibbericeps is produced. In the 
above-mentioned specimen in the British Museum the skin on one side has been drawn back properly, and on the other 
side has remained over the bony projection. I think this is the correct explanation of the difference of the two supposed 
species. 
The Cape Crowned Crane is an inhabitant of South Africa but extends on the east coast as far north as the 
Equator and on the west coast as far as the Cuanza River or to somewhere about the 9th southern parallel. It is an 
inhabitant of the open plains, and usually frequents the neighbourhood of swamps and rivers. In some instances as 
observed by Fritsch in the Harris Mountains, it seems to frequent the higher mountain lakes. Layard found this Crane 
tolerably common in the eastern parts of the Cape Colony, also in the northern and north-western parts of it. Ayres, 
Buckley, and Barratt met with it generally distributed over the Transvaal, and nests were found in November and Decem¬ 
ber in swamps on the banks of the Mooi River, some 20 miles from Potchefstroom. Buttler, Feilden and Reid met 
i) Ardea chrysopelargus, nobis, Ardea, ociilorum area nuda; corpore supra item collo et pectore ex fusco aeneo; subtus albo. Rostrum fere lo polUces longum, rubruin 
basi exalbiduin. Nares lineares ultra 4 polUces longae, mandibulam superiorem in medio quasi sulco pervio dirimunt. Genae et eollum purpureo nitore fulgent, reliquum 
corpus, quatenus ex aeneo fuscmn est viridi splendore renidet. Remiges nigrae; rectrices supra sunt aeneae, infra ut venter et crissum albent. Pedes 29 pollices longi, pallide 
rubri. Digiti antici basi palmati, posticus brevis terrain tamen attigens. Longitudo universa 4 pedum 6J- pollicum. Habitat in terra Cafrorum. 
