478 



THE 1MPEYAN PHEASANT. 



come-back !" being continually uttered wherever the bird is kept, and often affording a clue to 

 its presence. This bird has been imported into America and several of the West Indian islands, 

 where it has entirely acclimatized itself, and has increased so much in numbers as to be reck- 

 oned among the game birds and shot accordingly. In the poultry-yard it is not always a 

 desirable inmate, partly on account of its wandering habits, sometimes extending over a mile 

 or two of the surrounding country, and partly because it is so pugnacious, quarrelling with 

 the fowls and pecking them sharply with its hard beak. Still, as its flesh when young is very 

 good, and the cost of its keep very trifling, it is a profitable bird if well watched. 



The forehead of the Guinea Fowl is surmounted with a horny casque, and the naked skin 

 round the eyes falls in wattles below the throat. In the male the wattles are purplish-red, 



GUINEA FOWL. Numlda mtcheranl and cristate. 



and in the female they are red without any mixture of blue, and are of smaller size. The legs 

 are without spurs. The pretty spotted plumage of this bird is too well known to need descrip- 

 tion. Another species of the same genus, the CRESTED GFINEA FOWL, is remarkable for a 

 large crest of arched feathers upon its head, taking the place of the casque of the common 

 species. The color of the Crested Guinea Fowl is blue-black, each feather having from four to 

 six grayish spots. The primary feathers of the wings are oaken-brown, and the edges of the 

 secondaries snowy -white, forming a bold contrast with the extremely dark plumage of the body. 



ALTHOUGH less in size than the peacock, and without the wonderful train of that bird, the 

 IMPEYAN PHEASANT, or MONAL, is nearly as splendid a creature, and but for the absence of 

 the train, would even surpass it in the glory of its hues. 



On looking at a living or well-stuffed male Monal it strongly reminds the observer of the 



