2538 GRUIFORMES CHAP. 
just equalling the twelve secondaries. The nostrils are pervious. 
The downy nestlings are chestnut streaked with grey. 
Psophia crepitans, the Agami, ranging from British Guiana 
to Amazonia, is a black bird with velvety plumage on the head 
and neck, and lax feathering below; a golden-green and violet 
sheen adorns the lower fore-neck, a rusty brown patch crosses the 
back and wing-coverts, the bare orbits are pinkish, the beak is 
greenish or greyish, and the legs are variously stated to be bright 
ereen or flesh-coloured. P. napensis of Ecuador has the sheen 
on the neck dull purple, P. /ewcoptera of Peru and Upper Ama- 
zonia lacks the brown above, and has the inner wing-coverts 
and inner secondaries white, these feathers being ochraceous in 
P. ochroptera of the right bank of the Rio Negro. P. viridis of 
Amazonia—from Para up the right bank of the Rio Madeira to 
the Rio Mamoré—yperhaps identical with P. obscura, has the back 
and inner secondaries glossed with green. The sexes are similar. 
These birds love moist forests, and sometimes form flocks of three 
hundred individuals; they are so sociable and easily tamed that 
the natives use them to protect poultry. They perch, but seldom 
fly, and run swiftly with a peculiar gait, while they swim on an 
emergency. The deep-toned ventriloquistic, but not strictly trum- 
peting, cry is uttered with widely opened beak; the food consists 
of fruit, corn, and insects. The nest, said to be at the foot of a tree, 
contains creamy- or greyish-white eggs, like those of a Bantam. 
Fam. V. Cariamidae.—These birds have given rise to much 
discussion,and have been placed by several authors in the Accipitres, 
near the Secretary- Bird, which they somewhat resemble in their 
erect carriage, general appearance, and habits. The beak is short, 
broad, and slightly hooked, the neck is rather long, the legs decidedly 
so; the tibia is partially bare, the metatarsus is entirely scutellated, 
the claws are sharp and curved. The wings are short, with four- 
teen elongated secondaries and ten primaries; the long, graduated 
tail has twelve rectrices. The nostrils are pervious. The internal 
anatomy and pterylosis are Gruine, an aftershaft is present, and 
the downy young are either grey and brown (Cariama) or rufous 
and black (Chunga). Cariama cristata, the Seriema, or Crested 
Screamer (p. 110), extending from Pernambuco to Paraguay and 
Matto Grosso, is ochreous-grey above with zigzag umber markings, 
and whitish below with brown stripes. Vertical feathers on the 
lores form a conspicuous crest, while those of the neck and throat 
