236 ILL SUCCESS IN LONDON. [CHAP. i. 



Cushew. It is the Pauxi of Nieremberg *. Whether 

 this last-described bird be specifically the same 

 with the foregoing, I am at a loss absolutely to de- 

 termine. I know it is very rare with us in comparison 

 to the Curassow, which is common in the aviaries of our 

 nobility who are curious in birds." His plate is dated 

 1758 ; therefore, to go no further back than this notice, 

 here is a period of a hundred years for them to have 

 adapted themselves to a settlement in Great Britain ; 

 for if they were common in 1758, we may believe that 

 they had been introduced at least some years before. 

 But they have not, like Turkeys, as yet been dispersed 

 over Europe, nor repaid any attempts that have to the 

 present been made with them in this country. An 

 amateur, who was anxious to give them a trial, applied 

 to Mr. Yarrell to know what success had been attained 

 at the Zoological Gardens ; and that gentleman, with 

 his usual kindness, returned the following reply : 



"There are several species of Curassows in the Gar- 

 dens, but no successful instance of rearing the young. 

 On one occasion a female made a nest in the middle of 

 a thick bush, at about three feet from the ground, laid 

 her two eggs, and sat upon them steadily, but the eggs 

 had not, probably, received the influence of the male, 

 as no chicks were produced. This is the only instance 

 at the Zoological Gardens of a female incubating. 

 They drop their eggs about anywhere. Two eggs were 

 placed under a hen Turkey some seasons since, and two 

 young ones were hatched out, but they were so wild that 

 they would not allow the keeper to come near them, 

 and at length, to avoid him, they ran into the water 



* Pages 233-236. 



