CHAP. ii. J EASILY TAMED. 247' 



pears to have been quite disregarded, although it would 

 be an insuperable objection to making use of the as- 

 sistance of a hen, or any other stepmother, except 

 another Guan, that we are acquainted with, in hatching 

 their eggs arid tending and rearing their young when 

 hatched. The extreme ease with which they are tamed, 

 and the strong and even troublesome attachments which 

 they form to Man, are very remarkable, when coupled 

 with the rarity of their increase in a domesticated state, 

 reminding us in some degree of the Elephant among 

 quadrupeds. The vastness of their native woods se- 

 cures them from anything like extermination at pre- 

 sent ; but were the human race to make, by any possi- 

 bility, serious encroachments upon the principal forests 

 of the Brazils, the whole family of Guans, if dependent 

 on propagation in captivity for its continuation, would 

 probably verge rapidly towards its extinction. 



Humboldt and Temminck have pointed out a mode 



mene comme nos poules menent leurs poussins." Temminck, Art. 

 Penelope Marail, p. 65. 



" The young (Curassows), as we believe, are not in so forward a 

 state, on their exit from the egg, as the young of the ground-breeding 

 aallinacece." Martin, Art. Poultry, p. 567. 



These statements are not borne out by observations made in 

 England. 



" I can neither confirm nor deny what you state from Temminck 

 as to the young Curassows remaining in their nest ten or twelve 

 days. It certainly has not been so with us, but then in our case the 

 young were not brought out by their own parents, or in a climate 

 which in any way could be compared to their own. Possibly it was 

 otherwise in the cases alluded to by Professor Temminck. I can 

 only say that here I am not aware of any difference from the habits 

 of other gallinaceous birds, except their disinclination to creep under 

 their nurse like other chicks. I do not recollect even that the 

 young seem to look to their nurse's bill for their food as the young 

 Landrails do at first, and a.s they surely would if it was the natural 

 custom of the tribe to be so fed." E. of D. 



