Ch. VII.] CUEASSOW BIRDS. 121 



search in the track they were travelling. Sometimes 

 solitary specimens of the pisoti are met with, hunting 

 alone in the forest. I once saw one near Juigalpa, 

 ascending tree after tree, and climbing every branch, 

 apparently in search of birds' nests. They are very 

 fond of eggs; and the tame ones, which are often kept 

 as pets, play havoc amongst the poultry when they 

 get loose. They are about the size of a hare, with a 

 taper snout, strong tusks, a thick hairy coat, and bushy 

 tail. 



TThen passing down this road, I sometimes saw the 

 fine curl- crested curassow (Crax globicera), as large as a 

 turkey, jet black, excepting underneath. This kind 

 would always take to the trees, but was easy to shoot, 

 and as good eating as it was noble in appearance. The 

 female is a very different-looking bird from the male, 

 being of a fine brown colour. Dr. Sclater, in a paper 

 read before the Zoological Society of London, June 17th, 

 1873, showed that in the south and central American 

 species of Crax there is a complete gradation from a 

 species in which the sexes scarcely differ, through others 

 in which they differ more and more, until in Crax 

 globicera they are quite distinctly coloured, and have been 

 described as different species. The natives call them 

 " pavones,'' and often keep them tame ; but I never 

 heard of them breeding in confinement. Another fine 

 game bird is a species of Penelope, called by the natives 

 " pavos. It feeds on the fruits of trees, and I never 

 saw it feeding on the ground. A similar, but much 

 smaller, bird, called " chachalabes," is often met with in 

 the low scrub. 



Mountain hens (species of Tinamus) were not un- 



