Notes and Observations on a Guan. 295 



disposition of the colouring and markings on tliem, the 

 resemblance to those of a young Pheasant is most striking. 



There is no need here to go into more detail in regard to 

 this coloration ; but a point to be noticed is the pale huffish 

 tips to all the remiges. 



Another interesting point to be noticed is that the tail- 

 feathers and all the coverts bear more or less conspicuous 

 l)repennal down-feathers [mesojitij/es). In the case of the 

 median coverts, these prepennpe form quite a conspicuous 

 band or edging which is nearly a quarter of an inch wide 

 (averaging 135 mm.) and is of a strong buff or rufous tint. 

 They are only just visible here and there on the tips of the 

 greater coverts. 



It is also to be remarked that the feathers which compose 

 the lesser coverts are far less perfectly developed than are 

 those of either the greater or median coverts. 



The rami or barbs of these lesser coverts are of the " dis- 

 continuous^' order and of a more downy nature, although 

 there is a distinct enough rachis. 



The scapular feathers are similarly of the same undeveloped 

 or degenerate nature, and in both these and the lesser coverts 

 we seem to have presented to us a stage in the evolution of 

 plumage intermediate between a general downy plumage and. 

 the fully developed feathers of the wings and tail. 



Finally, we must call attention to the arrested development 

 of the outer primaries, a most interesting reminder of a 

 primitive arboreal nursery-life (which in the case of the 

 Hoatzin Mr. Pycraft was the first to bring to the notice of 

 ornithologists) ; and also to the absence of any visible or 

 tangible evidence of claw-like appendages to the extremities 

 of the manus ^, such as are seen in the young Hoatzin in 

 post-embryonic life; while another remarkable feature is 

 the Aery large size and thickness of the feet and claws, 

 almost twice as heavy and ''coarse" as in the case of a 



* I have since found in the British Museum collection another and 

 younger chick in which claws can be distinctly felt and seen on the 

 thumb. This was in a young example of Ortalis cinereiceps (Gray) from 

 the Cordillera de Tole, Veragua. 



