BRITISH BIRDS. 



337 



THE PINTADO. 



GUINEA FOWL, OR PEARLED HEX. 



(Xiunida Mclcngris, Linn. La Pin fade, Buff.) 



THIS bird is somewhat larger than the Common 

 Hen. The head is bare of feathers, and covered 

 with a naked bluish skin; on the top is a callous 

 conical protuberance; at the base of the lower 

 mandible, on each side, hangs a loose wattle, which 

 in the female is red, and in the male bluish; the 

 upper part of the neck is almost naked, being 

 very thinly furnished with a few straggling hairy 

 feathers; the skin is light ash: the lower part of 

 the neck is covered with feathers of a purple hue; 

 the general colour of the plumage is dark bluish 

 grey, sprinkled with round white spots of different 

 sizes, resembling pearls, from which it has been 

 called the Pearled Hen; its wings are short, and 



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