258 GRUIFORMES chap. 



just equalling the twelve secondaries. The nostrils are perviovis. 

 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 

 green or flesh-coloured. P. napensis of Ecuador has the sheen 

 on the neck dull purple, P. leiicoptera 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 Eio Madeira to 

 the Rio Mamor^ perhaps identical with P. ohscura, 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 cvirved. 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 {Cariamct) or rufous 

 and black {Clmngci). 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 



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