TR UMPE TERSSERIAMAS. 



277 



Tlie Trumpeters. 

 Sub-order 



Phosphide. 



Fig. 38. THE COMMON TRUMPETER 

 (Psophia, rejpitans). 



The Seriamas. 

 Sub-order 



Dicholophi. 



The nest is on the ground, the eggs being white, a peculiar colour for a 

 Crane-like bird, and the nestling is covered with down, and is able to provide 

 for itself soon after it is hatched. The birds gain their 

 name * 'Trumpeter" from their peculiar trumpet-like 



note, and no doubt 

 the modification of 

 the trachea has some- 

 thing to do with this, as the windpipe 

 is enormously long, and is continued 

 under the skin of the abdomen nearly 

 to the anus. The Trumpeters differ 

 from the Cranes in having oval or 

 holorhinal nostrils, and their plumage, 

 instead of being firm and harsh, is 

 particularly soft. They are residents 

 in the parts of South America they 

 inhabit, and have not any great powers 

 of flight. They live at large in the 

 forests, and often assemble in flocks of considerable size. 



In associating the Seriamas with the Cranes, we are following the 

 most recent conclusions of anatomists; but it must be conceded that 

 they are very aberrant members of the Gruiformes. 

 In some respects they resemble the bustards, and, like 

 them, have holorhinal nostrils, but in the possession 

 of four toes, and in other characters, they differ so 

 much from those birds that in our opinion there is 

 really no real affinity between them. Like the Cranes and the other 

 allied forms we have just been considering, the Seriamas have a cleft or 

 schizognathous palate, and their mode of life 

 presents some features in common with the 

 Secretary- Bird (Serpentarius secretarius) of 

 Africa. Recognising this fact, some ornitho- 

 logists, myself among the number, have 

 considered the Seriama to be an aberrant 

 accipitrine bird. The common Seriama is an 

 inhabitant of South-Eastern Brazil ; and in 

 Argentina another species occurs, Burmeister's 

 Seriama (Chunga burmeisteri). These two 

 represent the only known species of the sub- 

 order. The resemblance in appearance to the 

 secretary-bird is remarkable, and in its mode 

 of walk, its crested head, and its long legs, 

 there is much that reminds us of the latter 

 bird, which has a curious method of pounding 

 its food. If the latter be a rat, it springs 

 into the air, and brings down both feet with 

 all its force, till it has reduced its prey to a 

 pulp. This is also done by the Seriama. Mr. 

 Hudson says that these birds live on the 



ground among the high grasses of the Campos, where the traveller frequently 

 hears their loud screaming cry as he rides along the tracks. Their food 

 consists principally of insects and caterpillars, but they also devour berries 



Fig. 39. THK SBRIAPIA 

 (Cariama cristata). 



