BIRDS. [Clafsli 
SPECIES IV. The Crane. 
JVtl. or 11. 274. 
Rail fyn. av. 95 - 
BriJJon av, V. 374. Tab. 33. 
T HIS fpecies we place among the Britiflj 
birds, on the authority of Mr. Ray ; 
who informs us that in his time they 
were found during the winter in large flocks in 
Lincolnshire and Cambridgefhire i at prefent the 
inhabitants of thofe counties feem unacquainted 
with them. They were formerly in high efteem 
at our tables, for the delicacy of their flefh \ for 
they feed only on grain, herbs, or infers $ fo 
have nothing of the ranknels of the pifcivorqus 
birds of this genus. 
Its weight is about ten pounds } the length fix 
feet; the bill of a darkilh green, four inches long j 
the top of the head covered with black briftles j 
the back of the head bald and red, beneath which 
is an afti-colored fpot : from the eyes the whole 
Ardea grus. Lin, fyft. 141. 
Grus, Gefner av, 528. 
length of the neck on each fide is a broad white 
line : the fore part as far as the breaft is black ; 
the quil feathers are black ; the tail afti-colored 
tipt with black : all the reft of the plumage is 
afti-colored. No author except Gefner takes no¬ 
tice of a large tuft of feathers that fpring out of 
one pinion on each wing: thefe are unwebbed 
and finely curled at the ends, which the birds have 
power to ere.bb or deprefs; when deprefled they 
hang over and cover the tail. Tho this fpeciea 
very rarely frequents thele lflands at preient, yet 
it was formerly a native, as we find in Willoughby , 
p. 52. that there was a penalty of twenty-pence 
for deftroying an egg of this bird ; and Turner J 
relates that he has very often feen their young in 
our marlhes. 
t JpudGefnerum. 530. 
GENUS II, CURLEWS. 
SPECIES I. 
JVil orn - 294, 
Raii Jyn 9 av. 103* 
Numenius. Brijfon av. V* 51 i f 
—H E S E birds frequent our fea coafts 
and marlhes, in the winter time, in 
L large flocks, walking on the open fands \ 
feeding on ihells, frogs, crabs, and other marine 
infe&s: in fummer they retire to the mountanous 
and unfrequented parts of the country, where 
they pair and breed. Their flelh is very rank 
and filhy, notwithftanding an old englilh proverb 
in its favour. 
The Curlew. 
Scolopax arquata, Lin. fyft. 145. 
Arquata, five numenius. Gefner 
av. 221. 
Curlews differ much in weight and fize; fome 
weighing thirty-leven ounces, others not twenty- 
two : the length of the largeft to the tip of the 
tail twenty-three inches ; the breadth three feet 
three inches j the bill is fix inches long : the head, 
neck, and coverts of the wings are of a pale 
brown } the middle of each feather black j the 
breaft and belly white, marked with narrow oblong 
black lines : the back is white, fpotted with a 
few 
