CHAP. I.] TAME, NOT DOMESTICATED. 241 



found during this day contained but two, and the ta^h 

 assured us that this was the complement. The nest was 

 in every case about 15 feet above the ground, and was 

 composed of good-sized sticks, lined with leaves and 

 small pieces of bark."* 



Sonnini says that Curassows, like nearly all the birds 

 in the same country, have no fixed time for laying, but 

 prefer the rainy season, which, in Guiana, lasts six or 

 seven months, to the dry season ; that they usually lay 

 but once a year, and take very little trouble about the 

 construction of their nests, making them of a few dry 

 sticks, rudely interwoven with grass, and with a few 

 leaves placed at the bottom. We may imagine them 

 to be very like rooks' nests, only larger. The eggs, he 

 informs us, are about the same size and shape as those 

 of Turkeys, but are white, and have a thicker shell. 

 The number laid varies according to the age of the fe- 

 males, which never produce fewer than two, nor more 

 than six. None of these writers appear to have seen 

 with their own eyes any poultry-yards actually stocked 

 with and producing Curassows : they find them captive 

 and familiar, and describe their condition in language 

 which conveys a false idea. They might as justly 

 speak of domesticated Parrots and Monkeys in England, 

 or even of domesticated Falcons and Herons, because 

 these creatures, when compelled to live in our society, 

 wisely determine to make a virtue of necessity, and 

 settle themselves as comfortably as their new circum- 

 stances will permit. 



The plumage of Curassows, and perhaps all Cracidae, 

 seems to change considerably as the birds advance in 



* Edwards' Voyage up the Amazon, p. 122. 



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