276 CRACIDZ. 
median wattle; the inner web of the primaries is excised at the extremity and the 
plumage of the sexes is alike. 
This genus is strictly neotropical, fifteen species being recognized ; two of these are 
found within our limits, the remaining thirteen being South American. 
1. Penelope purpurascens. 
Penelope purpurascens, Wag]. Isis, 1830, p. 1110‘; 1831, p. 517’; Scl. P. Z.S. 1859, pp. 369°, 
391*; Moore, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 61°; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 223°; P. ZS. 1870, 
pp. 5227; Salv. Ibis, 1861, p. 145°; Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 306°; Bull. U.S. 
Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 45'°; Sumichr. La Nat. ii. p. 87"; v. p. 229”; Boucard, P. Z. S. 
1888, p. 459”; Ferrari-Perez, Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. ix. p. 175“; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. 
Mus. xxii. p. 496°; Handb. Game-Birds, p. 224°°. 
Salpiza purpurascens, Wag]. Isis, 1832, p. 1226". 
Brunnescenti-olivacea, eneo-viridi adumbrata; secundariis et supracaudalibus purpurascentibus; pileo et 
genis brunneis; dorso postico et uropygio brunneis, eneo tinctis; corpore subtus brunneo, colli, inter- 
scapulii et pectoris plumis lateraliter albo marginatis: rostro nigro ; loris et regione oculari (cum gula 
summa) nudis, violaceo-nigris ; gula ima coccinea; tarso coccineo; iride coccinea. Long. tota circa 34°5, 
ale 15:0, caudee 14°6, tarsi 3°4. (Descr. maris adulti ex Retalhuleu. Maus. nostr.) 
@ mari similis, Ala 14-0. (Descr. femine ex Volcan de Fuego. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Mexico (Wagler1*), Mazatlan (Bischoff? °®, Grayson ®), Sierra Madre above 
Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas (Aichardson’>), Vera Cruz (Sumichrast 11), Jalapa 
(Ferrari-Perez 4, De Oca*"), Santa Ana, Jalapa River (Ferrari-Perez °), Hacienda 
de los Atlixcos (F. D. G.™), Rio Grande+, Oaxaca’ (Boucard), Villa Alta 
(Trujillo), Chimalapa (Aichardson >), forests of both coasts 1, Santa Efigenia, 
Tehuantepec 1° (Sumichrast), Tonila, Chiapas (Xantus™®), Northern Yucatan, 
forest of Yak-Jonat (Gawmer '*); GuatemaLa °!, Retalhuleu (Richardson 1), 
Pacific slope’, Raxché, Vera Paz®1° (0. S.), Savana Grande, Volcan de Fuego, 
and Medio Monte (0. S. & F. D. G.'°); Honpuras (Leyland ®, Dyson"). 
The Purple Penelope, though distributed over a wide area, is only met with in the 
large forests, where it is locally abundant, and, like its allies, is strictly arboreal in 
habits, feeding on fruit, or when this is scarce on leaves and buds. Sumichrast 12 says 
this species is known in the State of Vera Cruz as “ Faisan griton” or “ Cojolite” ; 
the latter name is likewise used for it by the Spaniards in Northern Yucatan and 
Guatemala, while in the Maya language it is called “ Kosh”13, Dr. Gaumer 13 
found it abundant in the forest of Yak-Jonat. He says that on discovering a 
tree laden with its favourite fruit it utters a loud cry, and in a moment from all 
directions answers may be heard; soon the tree is covered with birds, who, having 
stripped the fruit, fly away to return no more; on two occasions he had the good 
fortune to be beneath a tree when the birds were thus feeding. The first time he 
counted eighty-four and on a second occasion fifty-one together, and of the latter 
he succeeded in bringing down eight. ‘The flesh is very good and highly esteemed, 
but the bones, like those of Crax globicera, are said to be poisonous to dogs. 
