v CRACIDAE 195 
cere, and nostrils in the middle of the bill, with the addition in 
many cases of frontal excrescences and wattles ; Nothocrax, Pauxis 
and Mitua have the beak horny and the nostrils basal, Paws, 
moreover, being distinguished by a large knob on the forehead, 
and Mitua by its short, highly-compressed bill with swollen 
culmen. The remaining Sub-families have the maxilla depressed 
and broader than it is high; Penelope, Penelopina and Pipile ex- 
hibit bare throats with a median wattle, Ortalis a mere band 
of bristly-shafted feathers down the middle, and <Aburria a 
feathered throat and vermiform wattle, while Chamaepetes shews 
neither wattle nor bare skin, and Oreophasis, the sole tenant of 
the Oreophasinae, a naked crown, surmounted by a cylindrical 
helmet. The males of Crax, Pauxis, and IMitua, and both sexes 
of Penelope jacueaca, have the trachea looped, and sometimes 
extended to the posterior end of the keel of the sternum; other 
forms lack the convolutions, but in several the state 1s unknown. 
The range covers Central and South America, excluding the 
Greater Antilles, Chili and Patagonia, but one species (Ortalis 
vetula) even reaches as far north as Texas. 
These handsome birds, from three feet to a foot and a half in 
length, frequent forests near the coast or wooded ravines on rivers, 
attaining at times an elevation of several thousand feet. They are 
often tame and show great curiosity, Ortalis being commonly grega- 
rious and pugnacious; some forms, moreover, rarely seek the 
ground and are only to be seen perched among the branches, but 
others haunt the undergrowth in the mid-day heat, and Notho- 
crax 1s asserted to take refuge occasionally in hollow trees. The 
food consists of leaves and fruit, ordinarily procured in the 
morning or evening, while various species scratch among the 
débris like Pheasants. The flight is generally heavy and rapid, 
Chamaepetes in particular descending with a noisy rush and 
stiffened wings; the alarm-note is loud and harsh, and in Penelope 
cackling, but the more usual triple cry is clear and ringing, while 
Ortalis utters a softer call, and vociferates in rattling chorus. 
The carelessly-constructed nest of twigs, grass, moss, and leaves 
is of considerable size, and is placed on the horizontal branch of 
a tree, in a bush, or on a stump, the two to five eggs—smaller 
Pam) 
than those of a hen—being white, with a hard granulated shell. 
The young soon climb and hop about the boughs like the adults, 
of which the flesh is considered a delicacy. Several species are 
