CURASSOIVS AND GUANS. 441 



scratch holes three or four feet deep, just above high- water mark, where the 

 female deposits a single large egg, which she covers over with about a foot of sand, 

 and then returns to the forest. At the end of ten or twelve days she comes again 

 to the same spot to lay another egg, and each female bird is supposed to lay 

 six or eight eggs during the season. The male assists the female in making the 

 hole, coming down and returning with her. The appearance of the bird, when 

 walking on the beach, is very handsome. They run quickly, but when shot at, 

 or suddenly disturbed, take wing with a heavy, noisy flight, to some neighbouring 

 tree, where they settle on a low branch, and they probably rest at night in a 

 similar situation. Many birds lay in the same hole, for a dozen eggs are often 

 found together, and these are so large that it is not possible for the body of the 

 bird to contain more than one fully-developed egg at the same time. In all the 

 female birds which I shot, none of the eggs besides the large one exceeded the size 

 of peas, and there were only eight or nine of these which is probably the extreme 

 number a bird can lay in one season." 



THE CURASSOWS AND GUANS. 

 Family GRACID& 



The second family of the game-birds with the first toe on the same level as the 

 others contains a number of large Central and South American birds, some of which, 

 such as the curassows, are nearly as large as turkeys, while others, like certain 

 guans of the genus Ortalis, are considerably smaller than the common pheasant. 

 All the species have a long and well-developed tail, and in the males the windpipe 

 is long and convoluted, and, as one would expect, their cry is very loud and harsh. 

 They differ from the megapodes, not only in their osteological structure, but also 

 in having a tuft of feathers on the oil-gland. Moreover, their nesting-habits are 

 different ; the eggs being incubated by the parent in the ordinary manner ; though 

 some of the species habitually nest in trees, and lay white eggs. When first hatched, 

 the young are covered with a patterned down, like the chicks of other game-birds. 

 These birds are arboreal in their habits, the greater part of their time being spent 

 among the highest forest trees. The different genera may be conveniently grouped 

 into two sections, the first four having the upper mandible higher than broad, 

 while in the remaining seven it is broader than high. The true 

 curassows differ from the allied forms in their large size, and also by 

 having the feathers on the top of the head semi-erect and curled at the extremities ; 

 in the males the crest being uniformly black, while in the females it is more or less 

 barred with white. The males are all much alike, the whole plumage being black 

 glossed with purple or dark green, except on the under-parts, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts, which are white ; in two species the tail-feathers being also tipped 

 with the same colour. The plumage of the females, on the other hand, varies much 

 in the different species, in the crested curassow closely resembling that of the 

 male, while in the remainder the upper-parts are variously barred with black, white, 

 rufous, and buff. It will thus be apparent that the distinctive specific characters 

 are, as a rule, much more marked in the females than in the males. The crested 



