





THE GALEAIED rAVXI. 



Xearlj- related to the birds just mentioned are the genera Paii.ri and Penelope ; but the 

 form and coverings of the bill, and shape of the nostrils, together with the nakedness of 

 the throat, and the lower position of the hinder toe in the last-mentioned genus, give 

 them peculiarities which have led to their being placed alone. They are generally more 

 or less remarkable for the development of their windpipes, which are frequently prolonged 

 in sinuous convolutions ; a structure which is rarely met with elsewhere among galli- 

 naceous birds, although not infrequent in the swimming and wading orders. 



In the present group the bill is shorter, deeper, and more compressed than it is in the 

 curassows, to which birds they are also allied. Nor is this the only point of difference ; 

 for a protuberance frequently rises from the upper mandible, with the base of which it 

 is continuous. This remarkable projection is, when fully de\eloped, more than two 

 inches long, and of a livid slate-colour. Externally it is hard and bony, but internally it 

 is cellular ; the cells communicating with the cavity of the mouth. After the first 

 moulting it begins to appear as a small tubercle, which is common to both sexes ; and 

 is much larger in the male than in the female. 



These birds are natives of Mexico. Their head and neck are covered with short, black, 

 velvety feathers, and the remainder of the plximage is of a brilliant black, exhibiting, in 

 certain lights, a tinge of green, with the exception of the abdomen and under tail-coverts, 

 which are white. 



They live in large bands, commonly building their nests on the ground, but 2:)erching 

 on trees. Like the hen pheasant, or the common hen, the females lead their young about 

 in search of food, which consists at first of worms and insects, and to these arc afterwards 

 added fruits and seeds. 



* Ourax Pauxi.— CuV. 



