492 BIRDS OF INDIA'. 



of this group ; for those who rely on it as a proof of the close 

 affinity between such birds, wouki surely not assert that the affinity 

 between the Grouse and the Pheasant was greater than that 

 between certain species of Partridges for example, which, though 

 living in the same localities, have not been known to breed 

 together. 



The family CRACiDiE, comprising the Curassows and Guans, are 

 exclusively American. They are birds of large or moderate size, 

 with the tarsus moderately long, stout, and destitute of spurs ; tlie 

 toes elongated and slender, and the hind toe lonjj, and on a level 

 with the others. The tail is moderately long, broad, of fourteen 

 stiff feathers, rounded in some, graduated in others. The head 

 of a few is adorned with a crest of recurved feathers ; the 

 membrane at the base of the bill is highly colored in some ; there 

 is a solid knob at the base of the-** bill in others ; and, in one 

 division, the skin of the throat is naked and dilatable. The 

 sternum has the crest very deep, and the inner notch reduced to 

 about one-third of the outer. Several have a remarkable con- 

 formation of the trachea, which descends along the skin behind 

 the sternum, and then, making a curve, re-enters the thorax. The 

 supplementary plume is reduced to a mere downy tuft. 



These birds dwell in forests, and live on fruit, seeds, and insects, 

 mostly feeding on the ground. Some live in pairs, others in 

 societies. They chiefly nestle upon trees, laying few eggs, in 

 ■ some cases only two; and the young perch as soon as excluded 

 from the egg. They are easily tamed and reared, but have not 

 been domesticated. Their flesh is said to be Avhite, tender, and 

 excellent. By their habits and structure, the Cracidce appear to 

 be the link that joins the Pigeons to the Rasores, approximating 

 the former in the structure of the feet and sternum, as well 

 as in their habit of nestling on trees, and laying but few eggs. 



Gray divides them into CracincB and Penelopims. The former, 

 the Curassows and Pauxis, are chiefly black, or black and white ; 

 the Guans are of various shades of brown. Near these birds, 

 according to some, should be placed the Cariama, Microdactylus 

 cristatus, of Geoffroy {Dicholophus of Illiger), located by Cuvier 

 at the end of the Plovers. It is a lars:e bird, as big as a Heron, 



