GRALLATORIiE. 397 



Vieill. Gal. 267, which has no horn on the vertex, and whose 

 occiput is ornamented with a circle of erectile feathers. The 

 head and upper part of the neck are only covered with down, 

 and it has a black collar. The rest of its plumage is lead-co- 

 loured, and blackish with a white spot on the tip of the wing, 

 and a second over the base of some of the large quills. The ex- 

 ternal toes are considerably palmated. It chiefly feeds on aquatic 

 plants, and the Indians of Carthagena always keep some of them 

 among their geese and chickens, as it is sufiiciently courageous, 

 according to them, to repulse even the Vulture. A singular 

 circumstance attending this bird is, that air is every where in- 

 terposed between the skin and muscles, even on the legs, in 

 such a quantity as causes it to crackle under the finger. 

 Although there is scarcely any part of the leg naked in(l) 



Megapodius, 



We still think it should be placed near Palamedea. It is a genus 

 lately discovered in New Guinea, in which the bill is arched and 

 slightly compressed, the membranous nostrils occupying about the 

 one half; the legs are strong, high, and scutellated; the thumb and 

 toes long, and terminated by large nails somewhat flattened; the tail 

 is short, the circumference of the eye partly naked, and there is a 

 small tubercle on the carpus, the first and slight vestige of the spur 

 of thePalamedeae. The membrane between the external toes is very 

 short; between the internal ones it is somewhat larger. The eggs 

 are very disproportionate in size to that of the bird. 



One species is tufted almost like the Chavaria, the Megap. 

 Duperrey^ Less, and Garn., Voy. de Duperr. Zool., pi. 37. Two 

 others, theTlf. de Freycinet and M. de Lapeyrouse, Quoy and Gaym. 

 Voy. de Freycin. pi. 28 and 27, and Col. 220, are destitute of 

 the tuft. (2) A fourth, which is smaller, the Alectelie de Dur- 

 ville, Voy. de Dup., pi. 38, appears to have no tail. 



Of the tribe whose wings have no armature, Linnseus com- 

 prises in his genus Fulica such as have their beak prolonged 

 into a sort of shield, which partly covers the forehead; and 

 in his genus Rallus, those in which this peculiarity does not 

 exist. ISee App. XXV of Am. Ed.'\ 



( 1 ) There is scarcely any part of the leg naked in the Rallus Crex. 



(2) The Megap. Duperrey is called Tavon in Manilla. Although hardly as large as a 

 Partridge, it lays an egg equal in size to that of a Goose. Add the Megap, a piedi 

 rouges, Col. 411. 



