18 HIUl) (;AI.Lr.KY. 



Uulikc the other members, this l)irtl makes no mouiul, but hiys its eggs, 

 ^\hieh are deposited at intervals of ten or twelve days, in lioles in the 

 sand on the sea-beach just above liigh-vvater mark. Tlie birds visit 

 the siiore in pairs. Several females deposit their eggs in the same 

 hole, and having eovered them with sand return to the forest and take 

 no further notice of them. 



Family II. Ckacid.i;. Cirassows and Guans. 



[Ciises The Cui'assovvs and Guans are distinguished from the Megapodes 

 ''■-' by having a tufted oil-gland, and ditl'er entirely in their breeding- 

 habits. The eggs, which are white and usually two in number, are 

 laid in a nest made either in a tree or on the ground, and incubated in 

 the usual manner. The young when hatched are eovered with down. 



Nearly sixty species are known, all iuhaljitants of the forest regions 

 of Central and South America, where they seem to take the place of the 

 larger Game- Birds of the Old World. 



They may be grouped into three subfamilies : — A. With the upper 

 mandible higher than broad (I. Craciiuv). 13. With the mandible 

 broader than high and with the top of the head mostly naked, and 

 having an elevated cylindrical, occipital helmet (3. Oreophasina), or, 

 with the top of the head feathered and without a helmet (3. Pene- 

 lojnnce). 



The true Curassows have the feathers on the top of the head 

 semierect and curled at the extremity, and are represented by Crax 

 (tlector (44), a native of the northern parts of South America. Some of 

 the allied species differ iu having a swollen knob at the base of the 

 ujjper mandible and wattles at the base of the lower. They are readily 

 domesticated in their native country and valued as food. 



One of the most remarkable is Lord Derby's Mountain-Pheasant 

 {Oreophasis derbiunus) (46), with its curious helmeted head, the sole 

 representative of its subfamily. This species is only found in 

 Guatemala, and is apparently restricted to the higher forests of the 

 Volcan de Fuego. Like the Currasovvs and Guans, it feeds on fruits 

 in the higher branches of the forest trees during the early morning, 

 and as day advances descends to the underwood, where it spends its 

 time basking or sci'atching among the leaves. 



The Guaus and Penelopes form the last subfamilj', which includes 

 six genera and contains the majority of the species. Of the Peuelojics 

 {Penelope) (47-51), hve species are exhibited, and may be recognized by 

 their naked chin and throat with a median wattle. The Black Penelope 

 (Penelupina myru) (52), from the highlands of Guatemala, is the sole 

 representative of the second genus, in which the sexes ditfcr in plumage. 



