OHACHALACA 349 



says that the " sitting bird often leaves the nest to go off and feed," 

 but he doubts whether the male helps in incubation. " The female 

 sits fairly close if one does not make too much fuss in approaching 

 and does it quietly and indirectly, pretending to look for something 

 else. When she flies she ' eases ' off the nest quietly and disappears 

 into the brush, going off and hiding somewhere where you can not 

 see her, but where she can see you, whence she ' quarrels and scolds ' 

 until you leave the vicinity. Often other birds will join in the 

 rumpus. If you have a dog along the birds will be much more 

 noisy, objecting to the dog even more than they do to you." 



The young are precocial, leaving the nest just as soon as the down 

 is dry. The female carries the young down to the ground clinging 

 to her legs, one at a time, according to Mr. Farmer's observation. 

 This particularly peculiar habit of the young clinging to its moth- 

 er's legs has been verified time and again by both Mr. and Mrs. 

 Farmer when lifting the mother hen off the nest to inspect the 

 brood on which she was sitting, and sometimes two at a time cling- 

 ing to the mother. Once in a drizzling rain Mr. Farmer heard a 

 chachalaca chatter and went to investigate. He found a female 

 with young, and, while he watched, saw her carry, one at a time, all 

 three young up into an ebony tree and leave them perched in a 

 line on a limb about 15 feet above the ground. When about 2 weeks 

 old they can fly perhaps 100 feet, but when they are a week old they 

 can flutter 8 or 10 feet, and even at this age they are almost im- 

 possible to catch, flitting from bush to bush among the underbrush 

 as they do. Mr. Farmer believes that there is only one brood. He 

 has found young birds as late as September or October, and thinks 

 they are the result of the first nest being disturbed. 



Plumages. — In the downy young chachalaca the center of the 

 crown and the occiput are black, tinged with " russet," and there is 

 an isolated black spot on the forehead; the sides of the head and 

 neck are " cinnamon-buff," tinged with " cinnamon " on the neck, 

 and finely mottled with black ; the chin and throat and lower under- 

 pays are white, with a broad band of " cinnamon-buff " across the 

 chest ; the upperparts are mottled with sepia and " cinnamon-buff." 

 Another specimen is similar, but the sides of the crown are " pale 

 mouse gray," and the back is tinged with " russet " in the central 

 black stripe and with " ochraceous-tawny " on the mantle. In both 

 chicks, one of which was known to be only 4 days old, the wings are 

 well started and already reach beyond the tail. The wings and tail 

 in another young bird, about 9 inches long, are so well developed that 

 it could probably fly. 



The wings and tail of the juvenal plumage are the first to appear, 

 and they grow so rapidly that the flight stage is reached at an early 

 age. These and the upper parts in general are " Saccardo's um- 



