14 DR. E. CRISP ON THE ANATOMY OF THE SCREAMER. [Jan. 12, 
5. On THE VisceRAL ANATOMY OF THE SCREAMER (CHAUNA 
CHAVARIA). By Epwarps Crisp, M.D., F.Z.S., erc. 
Before I speak of the visceral anatomy of the Chauna chavaria, a 
few words respecting the habits of this bird will not be inappropriate. 
Linneus calls it Parra chavaria (Syst. Nat. i. 260); Latham (Gen. 
Syn. v. 246), the Faithful Jacana—a name that throws some light 
upon one of its characteristics. Linneus, according to Shaw 
(vol. xii. p. 272), on the authority of Jacquin, says “ that its gait 
is solemn and slow, but it flies easily and swiftly; it cannot run 
unless assisted by the wings at the same time. When any part of 
the skin is touched by the hand, a crackling is felt, though it is very 
downy beneath the feathers; and this down adheres so closely as to 
enable the bird at times to swim, notwithstanding the length of its 
legs and of its cleft feet, which latter enable it also to walk on the 
aquatic plants of the pools.’’ He goes on to say ‘that by means 
of its four wing-spurs it can drive off even the Carrion-Vulture ; and 
that it is used by the natives as a protector to the poultry, defend- 
ing them against birds of prey, and returning home with its charge 
in the evening.’ Cuvier, like Shaw, places this bird after the Ja- 
canas, and before the Megapodes, Rails, Crakes, Coots, and Galli- 
nules ; he also alludes to the inflation of the skin and to the courage 
of the bird. Cuvier, in speaking of the Horned Screamer (Palame- 
dea cornuta), says, ‘it has a bony box in the middle of the trachea, 
like that of the Velvet Pochard (@demia fusea),’’ which may pos- 
sibly occasion the difference in the voice of this and of the Chauna 
to be mentioned below. 
I have had an opportunity of seeing the two above-mentioned 
birds alive in the Society’s collection. The spund emitted by the 
Horned Screamer that was in the Gardens for three or four years 
was a loud and sudden hoot—a noise that could always be elicited 
by imitating the sound of the bird ; it had no resemblance to a scream. 
The voice of the bird, however, now in the Gardens (Chauna cha- 
varia) is of a very different character, approaching that of a scream. 
Its food is chiefly vegetable, but the keeper tells me “that it will 
eat meat sometimes.’ Through the kindness of Mr. Bartlett, I 
have examined the living specimen in the Gardens, and I find that 
the statement respecting the presence of air under the skin is correct. 
I had an opportunity of examining two of the bodies out of the 
three that died recently, and also of inspecting the skeleton of one of 
them. These birds were male and female, and, with the exception of 
the difference in the generative organs, there was a great resemblance 
between them, both in the form and size of the viscera. As Mr. 
Parker is about to describe the skeleton, I will allude only to one 
circumstance connected with it. In my last paper “On the Pre- 
sence or Absence of Air in the Bones of Birds,”’ I stated that I had 
not at that time met with the skeleton of a bird the bones of which 
were entirely permeated with air. This bird, however, has nearly 
every bone filled with air; and a few other birds that I have since 
