HONDURAS TURKRY. Mele&grit octlldt,i. 



the neck are carmine. The hairy tuft on the breast is not seen in this species. The 

 feathers are finely webbed, rounded, and scale-like, and their colours are truly splendid. 

 On the lower part of the neck and upper part of the back they are bronze-green "banded 

 with black and gold ; and towards the tail the green assumes a flashing emerald hue, and 

 the gold band becomes wider and darker with fiery-red, like the throat of the ruby- 

 throated humming-bird. The tail-coverts are furnished with bold " eyes " at their tips, 

 and the lower parts of the body are also bronze-green and black, but without the lustre of 

 the upper parts. The primary feathers of the wings are black edged with white, and the 

 secondaries have the outer webs wholly white. The greater coverts are rich chestnut, and 

 the legs and feet are lake. In size this bird is rather smaller than the common turkey. 



THE prettily spotted GUINEA FOWL or PIIS Y TADO is, although now domesticated in 

 England, a native of Africa, and with some exceptions, has much of the habits and 

 propensities of the turkey, which bird it evidently represents. 



Like the turkey, it is a confirmed wanderer, travelling continually during the day, and 

 perching on the branches to roost at night. It differs from the turkey however in its 

 choice of locality, for whereas the turkey always keeps itself to the driest spots, shunning 

 the low-lying lands as fatal to its young, the Guinea Fowl has a special liking for the 

 marshes, and may generally be found among the most humid spots or upon the banks of 

 rivers. It is a gregarious bird, assembling in large bands which traverse the country in 

 company. The flight of the Pintado is seldom extended to any great distance, as the 

 body is heavy in proportion to the power of wing, and the bird is forced to take short and 

 hasty flights with much flapping of the wings, and to trust mostly to its legs for loco- 



