124. HISTOUY OK 



owner, is a foreign bird, and was at first artificially propagated 

 amongst us. They were brought into Europe from the banks 

 of the Phasis, a river of Colchis, in Asia Minor ; and from 

 whence they still retain their name. 



trees, forming them externally of branches interlaced with the stalks ol 

 herbaceous plants, and Uniug them internally with leaves. They generally 

 lay but ouee a-year, during the rainy season ; the number of their eggs 

 being, according to Sonuini, five or six, and to D'Azara as many as eight. 

 They arc nearly as large as those of a turkey, but are vAhite like a hen's, and 

 with a thicker shell 



The Galea{ed Curassow is in size about equal to the Crested Curassow. 

 Its head and neck are covered with short black velvety feathers ; and all the 

 rest of the plumage, with the exception of the white abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts, is of a brilliant black, exhibiting, in certain positions, a slight 

 tinge of green. The tail-feathers are tipped with white. The legs are red ; 

 the claws yellow ; the iris bro«Ti. The bill is of a bright red ; and the 

 protuberance by which it is surmounted (which is rounded in the young 

 birds, and pear-shaped with the narrow end directed forwards in adult 

 males'), is of a Uvid slate-colour. This remarkable projection is more than 

 two inches in length when fully developed ; it is hard and bony externaUy, 

 and internally cellular, the cells communicating with the cavity of the 

 mouth. It is not visible until after the first moulting, when it begins to 

 make its ajipearance in the form of a small tubercle, and attains a much 

 larger size in the male than in the female. In other respects there is little 

 diflerence between the sexes ; and the young are only distinguished by a 

 browner tinge. The windpipe descends for a considerable distance in front 

 of the sternum, immediately beneath the skin, and makes no less than 

 three distinct convolutions before passing into the cavity of the chest. 



These birds are natives of Mexico, and live in large bands, perching upon 

 the trees, but move commonly building their nests upon the ground. The 

 females lead their young about in the same manner as the hen pheasant or 

 the common hen. They subsist at first upon worms and insects ; but aa 

 they grow older they add to these animiU productions the frmts and seeds 

 of vegetables. They are easily domesticated, even when taken adult ; and 

 appear to be equally capable of being acclimated in Europe with any of the 

 other species. M. Temminck eniunerates them among the birds which 

 bred abundantly in the menagerie of M. Ameshofi' prior to the breaking out 

 of the French revolution. 



Tlie Kasor-billed Curassow's most distinctive character consists in the 

 form of the horny process that surmounts its bill, which rises above the 

 level of the head, is flattened on the sides, runs anteriorly into a sliarp edge, 

 spreads out at the base where it is conHnuous with the biU, and is like it ot 

 a bright red. The whole of the upper parts, the fore part of the neck, the 

 breast, and the legs, are black wth a violet or purple gloss. The tail is of 

 the same colour for the greater part of its length, but terminates in a white 

 baud ; and the extreme part of the belly is of a chestnut brown. Above 

 the ba?e of the bill, VAhich is covered with short velvety feathers concealing 

 the u'oitrils, is a tuft of straight feathers ; the iris is dusky, and the naked 



