THE CRYPTURID^]. 117 



obtusely triangular, slightly convex anteriorly, posteriorly with a rounded edge, and without a 

 median furrow. The after-shaft is at the same time remarkably small. In the wing I 

 counted twenty-six remiges in P. jacutinga, and twenty-three in P. superciliaris ; in the former 

 the seventh, in the latter the sixth, was the longest, and the preceding ones were distinguished by 

 a narrow, strongly curved, nearly falciform form. The tail in both species consisted of twelve 

 feathers. The oil-gland as in Crax. 



4. CRYPTURID.E. 



Although this group decidedly differs in many of its characters from the rest of the 

 Gallinacese, it is nevertheless destitute of any exclusive pterylographic character ; on the contrary, 

 the type of its plumage is quite analogous to that of the other Gallinacea3. I have, however, never 

 observed any great thickening of the lower half of the shaft of its contour-feathers, and have always 

 found the bands of the inferior tract completely separate down to the anus. 



1 . Crypturus. This genus has two remarkable peculiarities. One of these occurs in the 

 dorsal tract, and consists in the presence of powder-down-feathers, which enclose the dilatation of 

 the hinder part, and separate it both from the spaces and from the lumbar tracts (PI. VII, fig. 12). 

 These powder-down-feathers therefore form no true tracts, but are intruded into the gaps of the 

 contour-feathers, so that in Crypturus we find true down in these places among the contour-feathers, 

 a peculiarity which occurs in no other Gallinaceous bird. However, the dilated portion of the 

 tract starts thus suddenly from the narrow rump-band only in C. tataupa and C. variegatus ; 

 in C. tao it narrows gradually, and thus approaches more to the form of Phasianus, Arc/us, &c. 

 The second peculiarity consists in the structure of the inferior tract, which is divided very high up, 

 almost at the throat, and has a very remarkable form after it passes on to the breast. At this 

 point, indeed, we soon recognise the difference between the strong outer branch and the weak 

 main stem ; but the former, in complete opposition to the true Gallinacean type, is narrower than 

 the latter. To this must be added, that the outer branch does not terminate as usual on the 

 breast, but is continued beyond the pectoral boundary, passes through the lateral space of the 

 trunk, and unites with the anterior extremity of the lumbar tract of the same side. Nowhere 

 else have I observed a similar union of the two tracts. The lumbar tract itself is large, as in all 

 the Gallinacese, and separate from the dorsal tract (Plate VII, fig. 12). I have already mentioned 

 that the Crypturi possess a very small elliptical oil-gland, the orifices of which are situated upon its 

 upper surface. Below this I found in C. tao ten rather large rectrices, but in C. tataupa and 

 C. rufescens they are certainly wanting. The first-mentioned species also differs in the absence of 

 the after-shaft upon the contour-feathers, which is very distinctly possessed by the other two 

 species. In the wings of all four species I found from twenty-three to twenty-six remiges, 

 among which there was no diminutive eleventh ; the third (C. n/fescens) or the fifth (C. variegatus 

 and C. tao) was the longest, and the preceding ones are narrower, and falciform, at least in C. tao. 



2. Hemipodius, s. Ortygis. This genus also has many remarkable peculiarities. The most 

 important is evidently in the dorsal tract, which widens from the end of the shoulder-blades, and 

 only contracts again at the caudal pit, forming a lanceolate elliptical saddle, which is occupied 

 throughout its whole length by a spinal space, also of lanceolate form. The contour-feathers at the 

 margin of the space are strong, but they become weaker as they are situated more exteriorly 



