THE CRESTED CURASSOW. 



Crax Alector. Linn. 



Of all the Gallinaceous birds in the Collection, the 

 most interesting are those which hold out to us a 

 prospect of supplying our farm-yards with new breeds 

 of poultry of a superior kind. Such are especially the 

 Curassovvs. In many parts of South America these 

 birds have long been reclaimed ; and it is really sur- 

 prising, considering the extreme familiarity of their 

 manners, and the facility with which they appear 

 to pass from a state of nature to the tameness of 

 domestic fowls, that they have not yet been introduced 

 into the poultry-yards of Europe. That, with proper 

 treatment, they would speedily become habituated to 

 the climate we have no reason to doubt ; on the con- 

 trary numerous examples have shown that they thrive 

 well even in its northern parts ; and M. Temminck 



