TUE HELMETED GUINEA-FOWLS, 89 
devouring the seed-yams and cocoe-heads, thus frustrating the 
hopes of the husbandman in the bud. ‘The corn is no sooner 
put in the ground than it is scratched out ; and the peas are 
not only dug up by them, but shelled in the pod’ (Dr. Cham). 
The sweet potato, however, as [ have been informed, escapes 
their ravages, being invariably rejected by them. To protect 
the growing provisions, some of the negro peasants have re- 
course to scarecrows, and others endeavour to capture the 
birds by a common ‘rat-gin’ set in their way. It must, how- 
ever, be quite concealed, or it may as well be at home; it is, 
therefore, sunk in the ground, and lightly covered with earth 
and leaves. A springe is useless, unless the cord be blackened 
and discoloured so as to resemble the dry, trailing stem of 
some creeper, for they are birds of extreme caution and sus- 
picion. It is hence extremely difficult to shoot them, their 
fears being readily alarmed, and their fleetness soon carrying 
them beyond the reach of pursuit. But the aid of a dog, even 
a common cur, greatly diminishes the difficulty. Pursuit by 
an animal whose speed exceeds their own, seems to paralyse 
them ; they instantly betake themselves to a tree, whence they 
may be shot down with facility, as their whole senses appear 
to be concentrated upon one subject, the barking cur beneath, 
regarding whom with attent eyes and outstretched neck, they 
dare not quit their position of defence. Flight cannot be 
protracted by them, nor is it trusted to as a means of escape, 
save to the extent of gaining the elevation of a tree; the body 
is too heavy, the wings too short and hollow, and the sternal 
apparatus too weak, for flight to be any other than a painful 
and laborious performance. 
“Though savoury, and in high request for the table, the 
Guinea-Fowl sometimes acquires an insufferably rank odour, 
from feeding on the fetid Petveria alliacea; and is then 
uneatable.” 
A supposed new species from Zanzibar described by Cabanis 
under the name of Wumuida orientalts (cf. J; fOr 1876,.p. 2%), 
