442 



GAME-BIRDS. 



curassow {Crax alector) has the plumage of both sexes very similar, but the female, 

 shown in the foreground of the cut, has the crest barred with white. This bird is 

 a native of the forests of British Guiana and Northern Brazil, extending into- 

 Colombia. Distinguished by the purple gloss on the upper-parts, and the absence 

 of a swollen knob at the base of the upper, and of a wattle on the base of the 



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j^^i 



CRESTED CURASSOWS (J nat. sizc). 



lower mandible of the male, it has the cere and base of the bill yellow, and the 

 extremity horny blue, while the legs and feet are horn-coloured. Being easily 

 tamed, and affording excellent food, these birds are often domesticated. 



Passing over the smaller rufous coloured urumutu {Nothocrax 

 urumutum), from British Guiana and the Upper Amazons, distin- 

 guished by its crest of recumbent feathers, and the naked space in front of the eye, 

 we come to the three species of mituas, which are as large as the curassows, with 



Mituas. 



