MEGALORNIS.
Head in old birds partly or entirely without feathers ; tall, long-legged birds with outward resemblance to Storks ; frequent open plains and marshes ; wings very long, especially secondaries ; feed on vegetable substances, insects, reptiles, etc. ; nest on ground in marshes ; eggs 2, olive grey or olive brown, streaked and blotched reddish or pale brown.
Megalornis grus grus (L.). CRANE. Fr. La Grue cendree ; Ger. Kranich ; Ital. Gru ; Swea'. Trana.
? Pale slate grey, quills black ; crown, forehead, and lores without feathers but with black bristles ; occiput red ; nape, throat, and foreneck sooty, band from eye down sides of neck white ; breast-bone hollowed out, containing bent windpipe. Bill
greyish green, paler at tip, browner at base. Legs and feet black. Wing g 600-63o, ? 550-59o. Tarsus 250-26o. Bill 8 114-11s, ? 105-112 (H.).
Breeds.—Scandinavia, Finland, Livonia, Russia up to 68° N., N. Germany, S. Spain, Venetia, Lower Danube, and in W. Asia. Migrates ; winters in Mediterranean Basin and in Africa. Of occasional occurrence in British Isles.