THE CRESTED CURASSOW. 11 



the branches of the tallest trees of the forests which 

 they inhabit. They are distinguished by a bill of 

 moderate length and considerable thickness, deeper 

 than broad, covered at the base with a naked cere, 

 with the upper mandible curved and vaulted from the 

 base to the point, and sometimes surmounted by a 

 gibbous protuberance ; their nostrils are lateral, longi- 

 tudinal, partly covered above, and open in front ; their 

 head ornamented with long curled feathers forming a 

 closely tufted crest ; their wings short ; their tail rather 

 long and formed of twelve broad pens ; their legs 

 moderately long, thick, and spurless ; and their toes 

 four in number, the three anterior united by a mem- 

 brane as far as the first joint. The greater number 

 of these characters are common to the nearly related 

 genera, Pauxi and Penelope ; but the form and cover- 

 ings of the bill and the shape of the nostrils, together 

 with the nakedness of the throat and the lower position 

 of the hinder toe in the last mentioned genus, afford 

 tangible external grounds of distinction between these 

 groups and the Curassows. They are generally more 

 or less remarkable for the developement of their 

 windpipes, which are frequently prolonged in sinuous 

 convolutions ; a structure which is rarely met with 

 elsewhere among Gallinaceous Birds, although not 

 unfrequent in the Swimming and Wading Orders. 



The plumage of the Crested Curassow is of a deep 

 black with a slight gloss of green upon the head, crest, 

 neck, back, wings, and upper part of the tail ; and dull 

 white beneath and on the lower tail-coverts. Its crest 

 is from two to three inches in length, and occupies the 

 whole upper surface of the head : it is curled and 

 velvety in its appearance, and capable of being raised 

 or depressed at will, in accordance with the temporary 

 feelings by which the bird is actuated. The eyes are 

 surrounded by a naked skin, which extends into the 



