24G CaboVs Observations on 



they often raise their heads above the surrounding grass and 

 shrubbery, in search of prey ; their apphcation then in this 

 act, must be evident ; protruded and penetrating the ground 

 beneath the roots, they must afford great support to the body. 

 In this position birds have been known to attempt to ahght, 

 mistaking it, in its motionless attitude, for a stick or stump, 

 and thus to have fallen unwarily within its distended jaws. , 



Instances of its attack upon man are very rare, and never, 

 probably, except when it is in a state of extreme hunger. 



The natives fear them single handed, but not in numbers. 

 They seek them for food, esteeming them very highly on 

 their bill of fare. 



Its places of resort are streams and damp places. Al- 

 most all animals constitute its prey. It is not poisonous, as is 

 well known. Its constrictive power is all that renders it 

 formidable. 



Art. XX. — observations ON THE CHARACTERS AND 

 HABITS OF THE OCELLATED TURKEY, (MELEAGRIS 

 OCELLATA, Cuv.) By Samuel Cabot, Jr. M.D. (Read June, 1842.) 



During a recent residence of eight months in Central Amer- 

 ica, having had many opportunities of learning much that is 

 new and; I think, worthy of attention, with regard to this and 

 other rare and interesting birds, both from personal observation 

 and the accounts of others well acquainted with their habits, I 

 take this means of communicating it to those who may be 

 interested in this branch of Natural History. 



I find three plates of this bird, accompanied with descrip- 

 tions ; one in Griffith's edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, 

 Vol. VIII. p. 164, and another in the work of Temminck, PL 

 112, and a third in the Naturalist's Library, Vol. III. p. 143. 

 The plates are very imperfect and do not give a true idea of 

 the bird ; but the description annexed to the plate in the Nat- 

 uralist's Library is tolerably correct, as far as it goes ; although 

 being taken from a dried skin, of course, in some points it is 

 imperfect. The writer says, " This splendid and curious bird 

 was first described ])y Baron Cuvier in the Memoires du Mu- 



