ORDER GALLING. 99 



who had ample opportunities of observing many of their 

 species, in the regions which they inhabit ; we allude to 

 M. Sonnini and Don Felix d'Azara. 



The pauxis and hoccos, or curassows, live in great flocks 

 in the immense forests of South America. They are not very 

 wild, and their character is, generally speaking, gentle, tran- 

 quil, and confiding. Those, however, which frequent the 

 environs of inhabited places, become shy and suspicious, in 

 consequence of being continually exposed to the pursuits of 

 the fowlers, and disturbed and frightened by the explosion of 

 fire-arms. But what sufficiently proves that these birds are 

 naturally mild and sociable, is that they are tamed with very 

 great facility, and grow as familiar in a state of domestica- 

 tion as our common poultry. M. Temminck has observed 

 them in many menageries in Holland, where they were 

 scarcely less familiar than the turkey, the peacock, or the 

 pintado. Their infecundity, in the domesticated state, is at- 

 tributed by this writer to the want of sufficient care on the 

 part of those who keep them ; in fact, the most assiduous 

 attention is necessary in bringing them up, to accustom them 

 completely to our European climates. A proof of this was 

 given in the magnificent menagerie of M. Ameshoff, whose 

 care and attention to these birds was rewarded by the most 

 complete success in their breeding. The crax rubra, crax 

 pauoci, and others of this family of alector, produced under 

 this gentleman's management, as numerously as our common 

 domestic fowls, and his table was abundantly supplied by 

 them. The flesh of the young is white, and of the most ex- 

 quisite flavour, superior even to that of the pintado or the 

 pheasant. It is somewhat singular, that the colonists of 

 South America do not devote themselves to the rearing of 

 the different species of these birds. According to the report 

 of Sonnini, the people of Guiana had made no attempt of 

 this nature, at the period in which he visited that country. 



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