Curassows and Guans 271 



if the female began incubation with the laying of the first egg, it would require 

 her to remain sitting for three months, which would be impossible. It has been 

 suggested that these nesting habits may be the survival of a habit enjoyed by 

 a remote reptilian ancestor, but this is too improbable. Others have suggested 

 that it arose by the birds covering up and concealing their eggs, which seems 

 not unreasonable ; yet if this be true, it is difficult to see how they could have 

 become developed to the point where the young can fly from the time of exit 

 from the shell ! 



THE CURASSOWS AND GUANS 



(Family Cracidce) 



Among the many birds confined to the New World not any are more emi- 

 nently characteristic than the Curassows and Guans of Central and South America. 

 In common with the Megapodes they have the hind toe well developed and 

 inserted on the same level as the front ones, while they differ from them in having 

 a tuft of feathers on the oil-gland, and, moreover, are distinctly arboreal instead 

 of terrestrial, usually building their nests in trees and bushes and laying eggs 

 of the usual kind and rearing their young as well-regulated birds should. They 

 are large and on the whole rather striking and handsome birds, between sixteen 

 and thirty-six inches in length, and are mostly provided with a crest or other 

 ornamental enlargement on the head. They number about a dozen genera 

 and sixty species, only one of which reaches the United States in the lower valley 

 of the Rio Grande in Texas. They may be divided into two groups, in one the 

 upper mandible being higher than broad, and in the other being broader than 

 high. To the first belongs the true Curassows (Crax), which are all birds of 

 large size with a semi-erect crest on the top of the head, the feathers of which 

 are curled at the tips. They are all quite similar in appearance, the males being 

 black above, glossed with purple or dark green, and white below, the crests being 

 uniform black and never barred with white, while the females are more or less 

 barred with black, white, rufous, buff, etc., and have the crest always more or 

 less white-barred. The species are distinguished on minor considerations, as 

 the presence or absence of a knob at the base of the upper mandible, wattles 

 at the base of the lower mandible, white-tipped tail, etc. The males in common 

 with others of the group have a long and convoluted windpipe and hence a 

 loud and rather harsh voice. They frequent usually the loftiest trees, going 

 in flocks of considerable size, and building a bulky nest of sticks, leaves, and 

 grass, wherein are deposited the large white eggs. The Curassows are of a 

 quiet, confiding disposition, and as some of them breed readily in captivity are 

 often tamed by the inhabitants and reared for their excellent flesh. The Mexi- 

 can Curassow (Crax globicera) was found by Richmond to be abundant on the 

 Frio and Escondido rivers, where it is often kept in captivity. " A fine male," 

 he says, " on the Magnolia plantation was very tame, and answered to the name 

 of 'Touie.' One of Touie's peculiarities was an abhorrence of women. The 



