22io THE GAME BIRDS AND RAILS 



of other game birds. These birds are arboreal in their habits, the greater part of 

 their time being spent among the highest forest trees. The different genera may be 

 conveniently grouped into two sections, the first four having the upper mandible 



higher than broad, while in the remaining seven it is broader than 



high. The true curassows differ from the allied forms in their large 

 size, and also by having the feathers on the top of the head semi-erect and curled 

 at the extremities; in the males the crest being uniformly black, while in the 

 females it is more or less barred with white. The males are all much alike, the 

 whole plumage being black glossed with purple or dark green, except on the 

 under parts, flanks, and under tail coverts, which are white; in two species the tail 

 feathers being also tipped with the same color. The plumage of the females, on 

 the other hand, varies much in the different species, in the crested curassow closely 

 resembling that of the male, while in the remainder the upper parts are variously 

 barred with black, white, rufous, and buff. It will thus be apparent that the dis- 

 tinctive specific characters are, as a rule, much more marked in the females than in 

 the males. The crested curassow (Crax aledor) has the plumage of both sexes 

 very similar, but the female, shown in the foreground of the cut, has the crest 

 barred with white. This bird is a native of the forests of British Guiana and 

 Northern Brazil, extending into Colombia. Distinguished by the purple gloss on 

 the upper parts, and the absence of a swollen knob at the base of the upper, and of 

 a wattle on the base of the lower mandible of the male, it has the cere and base of 

 the bill yellow, and the extremity horny blue, while the legs and feet are horn 

 colored. Being easily tamed, and affording excellent food, these birds are often do- 

 mesticated. 



Passing over the smaller rufous-colored urumutu (Nothocrax urumu- 



tum), from British Guiana and the Upper Amazons, distinguished by 

 its crest of recumbent feathers, and the naked space in front of the eye, we come to 

 the three species of mituas, which are as large as the curassows, with the greater 

 part of the plumage black in both sexes. In two species the under parts and under 

 tail coverts are chestnut, the first having the tail feathers tipped with white and the 

 second with chestnut, while in the third all these parts are white. All three may 

 be distinguished from the curassows by their elevated and vaulted upper mandible 

 and the want of curling of the crest feathers. 



The last genus contains only the curious pauxi curassow (Pauxis 

 ^Curassow P auxi } of tne northwestern parts of South America, remarkable for 



the large, fig-shaped blue casque on the forehead. The male has the 

 entire plumage black, except the under parts, under tail coverts, and the tips of the 

 tail feathers, which are white, in the female the back, wings, and breast being chest- 

 nut, paler on the flanks, and barred and mottled with black. 



To the second group, with the width of the bill at the base greater 

 n than the height, belongs the rare Derbian guan (Oreophasis der- 

 bianus) , from the wooded slopes of the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala. The char- 

 acteristic features of this bird are the elevated, straight, deep scarlet horn on the 

 top of the head between the eyes, and the densely-feathered base of the upper 

 mandible. In both sexes the general color of the head and upper parts is black 



