181 



CRACID^E. 



CKACID^E. 



numerous flocks, and appear to be under little or no uneasiness from 

 the intrusion of men into their haunts. Even when a considerable 

 number of them have been shot the rest remain quietly perched upon 

 the trees, apparently unconscious of the havoc that has been com- 





-~ 

 \- -~= 



Created Curasao* (Crar Altctor}. 



mitted amongst them. This conduct is by no means the result of 

 simplicity, but proceeds rather from the natural tameness and unsus- 

 piciousneas of their character. Those however which frequent the 

 neighbourhood of inhabited places are said to be much wilder and 

 more mistrustful, being kept constantly on the alert to avoid the 

 pursuit of the hunters, who destroy them in great numbers. They 

 build their nests on the trees, forming them externally of branches 

 interlaced with the stalks of herbaceous plants, and lining them inter- 

 nally with leaves. They generally lay but once a year, during the 

 rainy season ; the number of their eggs being, according to Sonnini, 

 five or six, and according to D'Azara as many as eight. They are 

 nearly as large as those of a turkey, but are white like a hen's, and 

 with a thicker shell." (' Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological 

 Society,' vol. ii.) 



C. Yarrellii, the Red-Knobbed Curassow. The trachea of this 

 species differs from all those previously known, but most resembles 

 that of C. Alector, Linnaeus, while in external characters the bird 

 approaches C. globicera, Linnaeus, from which it is distinguished by 

 the redness of its cere, and by a prominence on each side under the 

 base of the lower jaw, in addition to the globose knob near the base 

 of the upper. The tube in C. Yarrellii is straight throughout its whole 

 length, except a short convolution imbedded in a cellular membrane 

 placed between the shafts of the OB furcatorium. The trachea is 

 narrow, and the fold, invested and Rupported by a membranous sheath, 

 gives off one pair of muscles, which are inserted externally below the 

 apex of the os furcatorium. The lower portion of the tube immedi- 

 ately above the bone of divarication sends off a pair of muscles to be 

 inserted in the sternum. The upper pair of muscles (furculo-tracheal) 

 influence the length of the tube above the convolution. The inferior 

 pair (sterno-tracheal) have the same power over the bronchial tubes 

 and that portion of the trachea which is below the convolution. 

 (Zool. Proc.,' 1830-31.) 



Mr. Bennett, speaking of the Zoological Society's Menagerie, says : 

 " Of all the gallinaceous birds in the collection, the most interesting 

 are those which hold out to us a prospect of supplying our farm-yards 

 with new breeds of poultry of a superior kind. Such are especially 

 the Curassows. In many parts of South America these birds have 

 long been reclaimed ; and it is really surprising, considering the ex- 

 treme familiarity of their manners and the facility with which they 

 appear to pass from a state of nature to the tameness of domestic 

 fowls' that they have not yet been introduced into the poultry-yards 

 >{ Kurope. That with proper treatment they would speedily become 

 habituated to the climate we have no reason to doubt ; on the con- 

 trary, numerous examples have shown that they thrive well even in 

 its northern parts ; and Temminck informs us that they have once at 

 least been thoroughly acclimated in Holland, where they were as 

 prolific in their domesticated state as any of our common poultry. 

 The establishment however in which this had been effected was 

 broken up by the civil commotions which followed in the train of the 

 French revolution, and all the pains which had been bestowed upon 

 the education of these birds were lost to the world by their sudden 

 and complete dispersion. The task which had at that time been in 

 some measure accomplished still remains to be performed ; and it 

 may not be too much to expect that the Zoological Society may be 

 successful in perfecting what waa then so well begun, and in natural- 



ising the Curassow as completely as our ancestors have done the 

 equally exotic and in their wild state much less familiar breeds of the 

 turkey, the Guinea-fowl, and the peacock. Their introduction would 

 certainly be most desirable, not merely on account of their size and 

 beauty, but also for the whiteness and excellence of their flesh, which 

 is said by those who have eaten of it to surpass that of the Guinea- 

 fowl or ofjthe pheasant in the delicacy of its flavour." (' Gardens and 

 Menagerie,' &c., voL ii.) 



Lieutenant Maw, who appears to have shot a Red-Knobbed Curassow 

 on his passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic down the river Maranon, 

 says that the native Peruvian name for the bird is Peury. 



Penelope. Bill moderate, naked at the base, entire, convex above, 

 wider than it is high, bent at the point ; lore and base of the bill 

 naked. Under the throat a naked skin which is capable of being 

 inflated or swollen. Nostrils pierced in the cere towards the middle 

 of the bill, half closed. Foot (tarsus) slender, longer than the inter- 

 mediate toe ; nails somewhat curved, strong, compressed, and pointed. 

 Fifth and sixth quill longest. Tail-feathers 12. 



P. cristata (Gmelin), the Guan. Length about 30 inches, the tail 

 being 13 or 14 inches. Upper parts dusky black or bronze, glossed 

 with green, changing to olive in certain lights. A black stripe passes 

 from the under part of the bill backwards, and surrounds the ear. 

 Fore part of neck and breast spotted with whitish, each of the 

 feathers being bordered by white ; belly and legs, lower part of the 

 back, and under tail-coverts, reddish. Cheeks naked and violet- 

 purplish. Iris reddish brown. Bill blackish. Feathers of the back 

 of the head long, forming a thick tufted crest, which the bird can 

 raise or depress at pleasure. Naked part of the throat scarlet, with 

 a contractile and extensile fold of depending skin. Mr. Bennett 

 observes that this fold retains its elasticity after death. The female 

 differs from the male principally in having her plumage, especially 

 her under parts, more decidedly tinged with red. 



Guan (Penelope cristata). 



Mr. Yarrell states that the trachea of the Guan is uniform in size 

 and substance throughout its whole length. After descending by the 

 neck in the usual way, it is extended, and passes downwards under 

 the skin, but over the outer surface of the pectoral muscle on the 

 right side, to the extent of two inches beyond the angle formed by 

 the junction of the two portions of the os furcatorium. The tube of 

 the trachea is then reflected, and, ascending to the cavity of the 

 thorax, again turns to be carried to the lungs as in other birds, and is 

 provided with one pair of true muscles of voice, which have the usual 

 origin and insertion. The loop or fold of the tube formed on the 

 surface of the pectoral muscle is imbedded in cellular tissue, and 

 further retained in its place by a strong ligament, which, firmly 

 adhering to the loop, passes backwards to be first attached to the 

 posterior angle of the sternum ; and afterwards dividing once, and 

 passing still farther backwards, the two slips are inserted on the two 

 elongated pubic points of the pelvis. This structure in the Guan, Mr. 

 Yarrell observes, has been noticed and figured by M. Temminck in 

 his ' Histoire des Pigeons et Gallinaces.' 



Mr. Bennett remarks that the manners of the Guau have little to 

 distinguish them from those of the Curassows. Although to all 

 appearance equally capable f domestication, they have not yet been 

 introduced into Europe in equal numbers with the Curassows, nor lias 

 the same success attended the attempts to propagate them in this 

 quarter of the globe. " We are told however," continues Mr. Bennett, 

 " by M. Temminck, that the proprietor of a menagerie in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Utrecht had bred them for several years ; and there can 

 be little doubt that with proper care and attention these birds mi^ht 

 be added to the stock of our domesticated fowls. They are spokou 



