ORDER GALLlNi^. 11 



With these different alectors are commonly asso- 

 ciated 



The HoAZiN, Buff. Opisthocomus, Hofinanseg, 



An American bird, which has the same carriage, 

 whose bill is thick and short, with the nostrils 

 pierced in the horn of it, without a membrane. 

 The head has a tuft of long narrow and slender 

 feathers. This bird is distinguishable from all the 

 rest of the order by the absence of any membrane 

 between the base of the toes. It is 



Phasianus Cristatus, L. Enl. 337, Vieill. Gal. 

 193. 



Greenish-brown, varied with white above ; the 

 neck, before, and the end of the tail, fulvous ; mar- 

 ron beneath. It is found in Guiana perching by 

 the sides of inundated places, where it feeds on 

 leaves and grain of a species of arum. Its flesh 

 has a strong scent of castor, and is only used as a 

 bait for certain fish. The name of Hoazin has 

 been applied, without any proof, to this bird by 

 Buffon, after an indication of Fernandez, Mex. 

 p. 320, chap. 10, M. Vieillot, Gal. t. 193, under 

 the name of Sasa Onstata, and badly represented, 

 as if its beak was notched near the commissure. 

 It forms a very distinct genus from the other gal- 

 linaceous birds, and will probably prove the type of 

 a peculiar family when its anatomy is known. 



