590 



G A L L I N I D &. 



When the bird is in a state of repose they hang down 

 as far as the middle of the neck ; but when it is ex- 

 dted it can raise them so that they stand out from the 

 hind head. At the same time it expands the tail in 

 a fan-shape, and, in fact, it has some of the air and gait 

 of the peacock, but differs mnch in colour. 



There is only one known species, the sasa of Son- 

 nini, the "crested pheasant" of Latham, and Opis- 

 thnrornus cristatus of Illiger, the last of which names is 

 retained by Cuvier, who remarks justly that Vieillot 

 {.nves a very inaccurate representation. The upper 

 parts are of a blackish-brown colour : the top of the 

 iiead is reddish, furnished with a crest of feathers, 

 coloured as already noticed : the back of the neck is 

 blackish, with a white line on the shaft of each fea- 

 ther : the larger and middle coverts of the wings have 

 white tips, the lesser coverts have their exterior webs 

 xvliite, and their interior brown : the first four quills 

 of the wings are wine-red with brown points ; those 

 next them are bordered with brown in their outer 

 webs, and those next the body are altogether black- 

 ish-brown : the tail-feathers are greenish-black with 

 white tips : the chin is brown, the lower part of the 

 neck and the breast'are reddish-white, the rest of the 

 under parts wine-red, and the bill and feet brown : 

 the length is about twenty inches. 



The manners of this species are unknown ; and it 

 should seem that the birds themselves are not very 

 abundant. Sonnini mentions that there are but few 

 in number in those parts of Guiana through which he 

 travelled. Occasionally he has met them in small 

 flocks, not exceeding six or eight in number. He 

 never found them in the deep woods or in elevated 

 situations ; but on the inundated savannahs and 

 other marshy places, where he did not observe them 

 on the ground, but on the leaves of the arborescent 

 arum (Arum arborescem of Linnaeus), which grows to 

 the height of five or six feet, and is very plentiful in 

 the marshes of the tropical countries. It is on the 

 succulent berries of this arum that these birds are de- 

 scribed as having been chiefly seen feeding. This is 

 a little singular, and shows that there is a consumer 

 provided for almost every substance. The milky 

 juice of this arum is of so acrid a nature as to blister 

 the hands of those who touch it ; and yet, according 

 to the accounts, these birds make the plant their con- 

 stant habitation and their regular food, eating the 

 leaves and flowers at those limes when there is no 

 fruit upon it. The same author, to whom we are 

 indebted for the only exact description of the bird, 

 whether it be or be not the hoazin of Fernandez, fur- 

 ther mentions that they are always found perched on 

 the trees in the marshes, and that they repose in pairs 

 close to each other. Their voices are loud and 

 harsh, and bear so much resemblance to the word 

 sasa, that the natives of Guiana know them by that 

 name. In the same trees, or rather arborescent 

 plants, they form their nests, externally of small | 

 branches, and internally lined with down ; the last of j 

 which is certainly not a custom with any of the com- 

 mon gallinaceous birds. The hatch consists of five or 

 .six eggs ; but the state of the young has not been 

 very particularly examined. The flesh of these birds 

 lias so strong a flavour of musk as not to be at all re- 

 lished by Europeans, and we believe that it is not 

 much, if at all, eaten by the natives. It is worthy of 

 remark, that in this musky flavour it agrees with the 

 flesh of the mammalia and reptiles which inhabit the 

 waters of tropical America and their borders. 



The genera of which we have now given some 

 slight account, but respecting many of which more 

 accurate information would be highly desirable, com- 

 prehend nearly the whole of the gallinaceous birds 

 which are found only in the tropical parts of the Ame- 

 rican continent. With very few exceptions, and those 

 apparently exceptions of mere variety, they are all 

 larger than the races of the same order which in- 

 habit the southern parts of the eastern continent. 

 Their plumage is also of a more sombre character,' 

 though, in many of the species, the glosses, and 

 even the tints, are exceedingly rich. The appendages 

 to their heads and necks will also be observed to be 

 peculiar, and more unlike what we are accustomed 

 to in the native birds of Europe, than any thing which 

 occurs in the genera of the south and the east. We 

 may also add that, taking them as a whole, their 

 manners are much more gloomy ; they have not the 

 same briskness and spirit, and their flesh is very in- 

 ferior in an economical point of view. 



There is still one genus which, though it resembles 

 the quails in some particulars, and is included by 

 Cuvier in the grouse family (Tetraonidce), may be 

 mentioned here for the sake of including in one arbi- 

 trary division the same geographical locality. This 

 species is 



TINAMOUS (Cryptttrus). The characters of this 

 genus are : the bill straight, slender, depressed, 

 broader than high, and blunt, and rounded at the ex- 

 tremity. The upper mandible enlarged on the 

 upper part, and margined at the tip. The nostrils 

 placed in the middle of the bill, in long nasal grooves, 

 oval in their shape, and open. The legs are rather 

 long, and the tarsi are often furnished with hard 

 tubercles on the hinder edges. There are four toes, 

 entirely divided, all of them rather short, and the hind 

 toe reaching the ground in some species, but not 

 in others. The claws on the toes are small and 

 flattened. The w ings are short and rounded ; the 

 first four feathers increase in length by regular 

 stages ; and the fifth and eighth are the longest in the 

 wing. The tail consists of ten feathers. It is short 

 in all the species, and merely rndimental in some of 

 them, on which account the name crypturus, " ob- 

 scure tail," is applied to the genus. 



It will easily be inferred from the characters which 

 we have described, that those birds are very different 

 in their habits from the other gallinidae of the wanner 

 regions of America. The shortness and roundness 

 of their wings render them incapable of long flights, 

 and the shortness of the tail or the want of it unfits 

 them for ascending and descending with the same 

 ease as the perching birds, which, whatever may be 

 the character of their wings, always have the tail 

 well formed. Their structure points out their pecu- 

 liar habitat, which is the wide and extended plains, 

 or the margins of the forests, but not the forests them- 

 selves. They are found as far north as Mexico ; and 

 also in Guiana, but they are much more numerous in 

 Brazil, and in the plains of Paraguay. There they 

 are found in vast numbers, living and multiplying 

 much in the same manner as partridges ; though, as 

 the physical circumstances of their native country 

 are different from those of many of the places which 

 partridges inhabit, we may expect corresponding 

 differences in their structure. Accordingly thej r run 

 with much greater swiftness than any of the partridge 

 tribe, so that in their speed they bear some resem- 

 blance to little ostriches; and in the course of the 



