7 74 '^HE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cuted by the writer, is adapted from two drawings given us by 

 Newton; and this distinguished authority has said that "in sin- 

 gularity of aspect few birds surpass Balixniceps, with its gaunt 

 gray figure, some five feet in height, its large head surmounted 

 by a little curled tuft, the scowling expression of its eyes, and its 

 huge bill in form not unlike a whale's head this last suggesting 

 its generic name but tipped with a formidable hook." These 

 birds lay white eggs with faint markings upon them in an ordi- 

 nary nest built in the high sedge in the near vicinity of the water. 

 Before leaving this the young are fed by the parents for some 

 time, as in the case of other heronlike types. 



Flamingoes (Phoenicopferus) are other birds that formerly 

 much exercised the avian taxonomer, and they were variously 

 classified until Huxley and other anatomists clearly demonstrated 

 that they should be awarded a group to themselves, and that they 

 connected the ibises on the one hand with the anserine fowls 

 (ducks, swans, geese, etc.) on the other, standing immediately be- 

 tween these two groups. Not so easy, however, has it been to 

 decide upon the relationships of another most singular bird 

 that is, the screamer (Palamedea cornula, Fig. 8) of Guiana 

 and the valley of the Amazon and it may with truth be said 

 that its position in the system is as yet by no means fully under- 

 stood. That in some strange way it is related to the duck group 

 (Anseres) there seems now to be no question, but with what 

 other main assemblages of birds there is a very considerable de- 

 gree of doubt entertained. This form is as big as a small brant 

 goose, and is noted for its very noisy screams, which make the 

 very air resound when uttered. Either of its wings are armed 

 with two sharp spurs, and on the crown of its head is reared a 

 slender " horn," some three inches in length. Below it is white, 

 while the rest of its general plumage is of a blackish gray, and 

 its toes are very long for the size of the bird. Another strange 

 thing about it is that its skin is separated from the muscles by an 

 air filled cellular tissue, which gives rise to a crackling sound 

 when the bird is handled, as in the case of certain gannets and 

 cormorants. Screamers are abundant in some localities, where 

 they live in pairs, especially in the marshy districts. They feed 

 upon grain and aquatic herbs. A closely related genus is rep- 

 resented by the "crested screamer" {Chauna cliavaria) of the 

 swamps and sloughs of the lower Brazils and Paraguay, where it 

 is known to the inhabitants as the " chaka." Not so large as its 

 near ally and lacking its " horn," which latter is replaced by a 

 hanging tuft of feathers, this species is as fully interesting to the 

 ornithologist. It has considerable more white in its plumage, the 

 face and throat being entirely so, while below it is more or less 

 shaded with dusky. A black ring encircles the neck. Linnaeus 



