8 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



being nearly equal in size, though inferior in bulk, to the turkeys. The 

 plumage of the males is usually of a glossy black, the underparts of most 

 species chiefly white; the recurved crest and bright color (yellow or 

 orange) of the cere and (if present) frontal protuberance adding to 

 their fine appearance. They are known to the natives of the countries 

 they inhabit as pavo or pavo del monte (peacock or mountain peacock). 

 Their flesh is held in great esteem, being much like that of the turkey, 

 but richer. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF CRACIDAE 



a. Planta tarsi wholly covered by a continuous series (single row) of large, 

 quadrate scutella on each side ; bill compressed, relatively large and heavy, 

 deep at base, the mesorhinium ascending and arched proximally or sur- 

 mounted by a swollen knob or egg-shaped bony tubercle; postacetabular area 

 of pelvis narrow; sexes usually (except in Mitti only) more or less different 

 in coloration. (Cr-ACINAe.) 

 b. Pileum with an erectile crest; forehead without an egg-shaped protuberance. 

 c. Feathers of crest semierect, narrow, rigid, and recurved or curled forward 



at tips Crax (p. 9) 



cc. Feathers of crest decumbent, broad, soft, and blended. 

 d. Loral region nude ; sexes very different in coloration. 



Nothocrax (extralimital)' 

 dd. Loral region densely feathered ; sexes ahke in coloration. 



Mitu (extralimital)' 

 bb. Pileum not crested ; forehead with a large, egg-shaped, naked, bonj- tubercle 



or protuberance Pauxi (extralimital)' 



aa. Planta tarsi with a continuous series (single row) of quadrate scutella only on 

 outer side, these conspicuously smaller than scutella of acrotarsium, or with 

 none on either side ; bill depressed, relatively small, not deeper than broad at 

 base, the mesorhinium not distinctly ascending nor arched, and never sur- 

 mounted by a knob or tubercle ; postacetabular area of pelvis broad ; sexes 

 usually alike in coloration (different only in Pcnclopbia). 

 b. Entire base of bill, including cere and mesorhinium, together with forehead, 

 densely covered with short, erect, plushlike feathers, quite concealing nostrils ; 

 crown nude, with an elongated nude bony protuberance ; loral and orbital 

 regions covered with short feathers ; mandibular rami and chin densely covered 

 with plushlike feathers; feathers of hindneck sublanceolate. (Oreophasinae.) 



Orecphasis (p. 58) 



'^Nothocrax Burmeister, Syst. tJbers. Th. Bras., iii, 1856, 347 (type, by monotj'py, 

 Crax uriimutmn Spix). British Guiana to upper Amazon Valley. (Monotypic.) 



"Mitu Lesson, Traite d'Orn., 1831, 485 (t3-pe, by tautology, Crax galeata Latham 

 ^Crax mitu Linnaeus). — Mitua (emendation) Strickland, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 

 vii,.1841, 36. Guiana to upper Amazon Valley. (Three species.) 



^ Pauxi Temminck, Pig. et Gallin., ii, 1813, 456, 468 (type, by tautonymy, "Crax 

 pauxi" Latham et Gmelin = Crax Pauxi Linnaeus). — Oiirax Cuvier, Regne Anim., 

 i, 1817, 440 (type, by monotypy, Crax pauxi Linnaeus). — Lephocercus Swainson, 

 Classif. Birds, ii, 1837, 353 (type, by monotypy Crax pauxi Linnaeus). Colombia 

 to Venezuela and Peru. (Monotypic). — Urax (emendation) Reichenbach, Av. Syst. 

 Nat. Vog., 1852, xxvi. — Pauxis (emendation) Sclater, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, ix, 

 1875, 285. 



