156 A NATURALIST IN THE GUI ANAS 



and delicate. In this respect no other South American 

 birds can compare with them. 



Two varieties of curassows which I have men- 

 tioned as frequenting the bejucales are met with in 

 these forests. Both varieties are called without distinc- 

 tion Pauji ; but when the natives wish to draw attention 

 to the different kinds they speak of them as Culo bianco 

 {Crax alector), and Cido Colorado (Mitua tomentosa), on 

 account of the difference in the colours of the feathers of 

 the belly in each species. These two curassows appear to 

 have similar habits. Both utter the same shrill note of 

 alarm on being disturbed, and they make the same deep 

 humming noise when calling to each other. I have never 

 been able to notice any difference in the humming of the 

 two kinds, although the native hunters pretend that they 

 can tell one bird from the other by its call-note. But as 

 it has happened on more than one occasion that a hunter, 

 after declaring, upon hearing a bird calling, that he was 

 going to kill a Culo bianco has brought back a Culo 

 Colorado, I have come to the conclusion that the natives 

 cannot, as they pretend, always distinguish between the 

 call-notes of the ' white ' and ' brown ' posteriors, as they 

 have, with more reason than delicacy, elected to dis- 

 tinguish the two varieties. During the mating season, in 

 the unfrequented parts of the forest, especially along the 

 banks of the streams, the deep hum of the Pauji may be 

 heard at almost any time of the day. But it is just 

 before sunrise, and in the early hours of the morning, that 

 the Pauji appears to be most disposed to hum. It is 

 impossible to describe in writing the peculiar noise which 

 these birds make. The native hunters imitate the Pauji 

 by sajing, ' El muerto esta aqui ' — * The corpse lies here.' 

 It is while uttering in a deep tone this lugubrious chant 



