A L L I N I D JE. 



nas not been explained. The young have it round ; 

 but in the mature birds it rises up in a crown, and 

 has some resemblance to a pear standing on the thick 

 end, and is altogether about two inches and a hall' in 

 height. One of the cries of these birds resembles 

 the syllables -po-hic, very loud and clear ; but they, 

 in common with most of the family, also utter a hum- 

 ming or murmuring sound. The call is common to 

 the two sexes, and it is clear and sonorous, and heard 

 a considerable way off. In the male there are con- 

 volutions in the trachea, bearing some slight re- 

 semblance to what we meet with in some of the swans 

 and other birds which dabble in the waters ; and this 

 renders it probable that the cellular appendage to 

 the bill may answer some purpose analogous to that 

 of the enlargement of the bronchial end of the tra- 

 chea in these other birds. After the trachea has fol- 

 lowed the same direction with the gullet, as far as 

 the entrance of the thorax, it returns upward, over 

 the right great pectoral muscle, at some distance from 

 the crest of the sternum, continues its direction over 

 the entire length of this muscle, forms a curve there 

 in passing to the distance of two lines behind the 

 sternum, over the tunic which retains the entrails ; it 

 then proceeds the length of two inches and a quarter 

 over the left pectoral muscle, there makes a turn on 

 the side of the sternum, passes anew behind this 

 bone, above the first curve, then turns anew, follows 

 its direction over the right pectoral on the side of the 

 crest of the sternum, and passes over the right cla- 

 vicle into the cavity of the thorax. There is a muscle 

 on each side of the trachea, which serves to lengthen 

 or shorten it. The tube adheres, in its entire length, 

 to the pectoral muscle, by a very fine cellular tissue, 

 and is immediately covered by the skin. The upper 

 and lower larynx do not differ from the same parts in 

 the peacock, but a very apparent socle is found at 

 the bottom of the upper larynx, at the aperture of 

 the glottis. The tube of the trachea is composed of 

 slender rings, distant from each other about two lines. 

 The spaces between the rings are membranous. It 

 is understood that this convolution of the trachea is 

 not wholly confined to the male bird, but occurs in 

 the female also, though to a rather smaller extent. 



One or two other species of this genus are men- 

 tioned ; but they do not require a very particular 

 notice. They are : 



Ourax mitu, which has been improperly confounded 

 with the curassows. It has the upper parts black, w ith 

 violet and purple reflections, but the margin of each 

 feather dead black, without any reflection, the upper 

 part of the head is covered with short velvety fea- 

 thers, of dead black, and there is a crest of frizzled 

 feathers, not very long, and of an intense black on 

 the hind head and neck. The coverts of the wings 

 are black, with white tips. All the under parts are 

 brilliant black, with the exception of the belly and 

 under-tail coverts, which are maroon brown. The 

 feet are reddish, and the bill is red, surmounted with 

 a horny casque of the same colour, which runs a 

 little way upon the forehead. The irides are black- 

 ish. The length of the full grown bird is from twenty- 

 eight to thirty inches. The young have the black 

 colour less pure, the red in the bill and feet duller, 

 and the casque on the bill less elevated. 



Two or three other species have been mentioned, 

 but they are known only as museum specimens, which 

 have no interest for the general reader, and even 

 these are a little confused. Indeed thev are not often 



seen by the European colonists, even in those coun- 

 tries which they inhabit, as they arc much more shy 

 than many of the other gallinidae, and especially than 

 the curassows. These last are found very generally 

 in the court-yards in Brazil, in Guiana, and in Mex- 

 ico ; but the pauxis are rarely seen there, nor are 

 they very common in collections. They inhabit the 

 vast forests with which so great a breadth of the fer- 

 tile regions of tropical America is covered ; and as 

 the only inhabitants of the open parts of those forests 

 are the different tribes of Indians, who range the 

 wild woods with much more ease than Europeans, the 

 birds are chiefly sought, after by them as game. With 

 few exceptions, such as the cultivation of a little 

 cassava and Indian corn, those wild tribes subsist en- 

 tirely upon the produce of the forests ; and, aided 

 by the ivourali poison, and their bows and blowing 

 tubes for throwing arrows and darts, they are very 

 expert marksmen, and can bring down a bird, or 

 arrest the speed of a land animal, with perhaps greater 

 certainty than an European can do with his musket. 

 The poison is of great service to them in this respect 

 because the least movement w ith the poisoned weapu. 

 very speedily throws the animal into a complete 

 stupor, or kills it, if only a small one. The arrows 

 and darts are so contrived, that the point which is 

 armed with the poison, and of which the hunters keep 

 a store, taking great care to preserve them from damp, 

 is so contrived, that the moment it fastens in the 

 body of an animal, the shaft or handle drops off, so 

 that it may again and again receive fresh points, and 

 bring down fresh game before the hunter takes the 

 trouble of picking up the first ones. We believe 

 that the birds of this genus are the game most highly 

 prized by those Indians, though many of the larger 

 species of parrots are also very good eating, and as 

 they are more in sight than those birds of the deep 

 forest, they fall more to the lot of Europeans in tra- 

 versing the wilds. 



PENELOPE (the Guan or Yacou). This is also a 

 species inhabiting the tropical parts of America, 

 chiefly to the south of the Isthmus, and between the 

 Andes and the eastern sea. Guan, or quan, and 

 yacou, are names given to it by the natives of those 

 countries in which it is found. The systematic name, 

 Pejielope, is not very well chosen, because it has 

 been applied to the widgeon, a bird which is very 

 unlike the present genus ; and the widgeon again got 

 its name from the Greek fable, of a red-headed duck 

 having saved Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, from 

 drowning when she was a girl. It does not appear 

 that either the widgeon, or any bird of the present 

 genus, ever practised so much gallantry ; as the 

 names have been generally introduced, however, it 

 would not be advisable to change them. 



The characters of the present genus are, the beak 

 of mean length, and nearly straight, depressed at the 

 base, so that the breadth exceeds the height, and 

 with the upper mandible sharp and curved at the 

 tip. The forehead, a space round the eyes and the 

 chin, are bare of feathers ; the nostrils are placed on 

 each side of the bill, near the middle of its length, 

 and have only a small part toward the front open ; 

 the tarsi are slender, and not longer than the middle 

 front toe ; there are three toes to the front, united 

 by membranes at their bases, and one to the rear 

 articulated much further up on the tarsus than the 

 front ones. The first four girdles of the wings arc 

 gradually staged, or the one regularly longer than 



