CONTENTS. 



THE AVIAEY, 



CHAPTER I. 



THE CRACIDJB CURASSOWS. 



PAGE 



Want of precise information. Expected results from the Zoolo- 

 gical Society. Its great advantages. Disappointments. Causes 

 thereof. Erroneous Assumptions. The limited power of Man. 

 Domesticability of Cracidae. Former attempts. Natural dis- 

 position of the bird. Imported long ago. 111 success at the 

 Zoological Gardens. The Cracidae at Knowsley. Arboreal 

 habits. Of tender constitution Curassows at home Tame, 

 not domesticated. Not common in S. America. M. Ameshoff's 

 festin d'Heliogalale. Eggs 223 



CHAPTER II. 



THE CRA.CIDM PENELOPES (COMMONLY GTJANS). 



Difficulty of discriminating the species. State in which the 

 young are hatched. Easily tamed. Produce few young in a 

 tame state. Mode of distinguishing species. Organ of voice. 

 Its efficiency. The Cracidae as poultry. Mr. Bennett's and 

 Mr. Martin's hopes. Cause of failure. Have had a fair trial. 

 Curassow dinner. Cracidae in Holland. Temminck's expec- 

 tations; plausible but unfounded. Determine on an experi- 

 ment. Unsuitability of South American organisms to Great 

 Britain. Instances. Few exceptions. The reversed seasons of 

 the north and south hemispheres one cause. Mr. Darwin's ac- 

 count. Guans at the Surrey Gardens. Their native habits and 

 diet. Our own mishaps. Troublesome tameness of the birds. 

 Tricks and dangers. Impudence and capriciousness. Pos- 

 sible profitableness ! Narrative of a coadjutor. His ill-success. 

 Our own. Habits of the Eye-browed Guan. Amount of 

 success at Knowsley 245 



