THE GUINEA-FOWL 79 



" These old names are now out of use and are re- 

 placed by the word guinea-fowl, or pintade, which 

 some, not without reason write peintade (painted). 

 In fact, the white spots, spread over the bluish-gray 

 ground of the plumage, are so round and so regu- 

 larly distributed that one might say they were traced 

 with a brush by a painter. The bird looks painted; 

 hence its name. 



' ' The guinea-fowl has rounded outlines. Its short 

 wings, its drooping tail, and the general arrangement 

 of the feathers on 

 its back give it a de- 

 formed appearance, 

 which is misleading, 

 for when plucked 

 the bird shows none 

 of its former gib- 

 bosity. The neck is 

 lank. Imitating in that respect its compatriot, 

 the camel, the guinea-fowl straightens it up and 

 stretches it out when it runs away, and then it 

 looks like a rolling ball. The head is small and 

 partly bald, like the turkey's. Two wattles, tinted 

 red and blue, hang from the base of the beak. The 

 top of the skull is protected by dry skin, which rises 

 in the shape of a helmet and is perhaps not without 

 use when in their quarrelsome moods the guinea- 

 fowls have a trial of skill in splitting one another's 

 head with blows of the beak. 



"Many qualities recommend this bird to our no- 

 tice. The eggs are excellent and numerous, a hun- 



