ORDER GALLING. 101 



it ; they will in a short time grow habituated to the climate, 

 if some few particular cares be bestowed upon them at their 

 first arrival. They should receive at first, food of a greater 

 or less stimulating and warm nature, such as hempseed ; and 

 especially they should not be exposed at once to the colder 

 temperature of our climate, but, on the contrary, habituated 

 to it by degrees ; it will be necessary to place them in a 

 situation in which they may enjoy the earliest rays of the 

 sun, and slightly to warm the place where they are shut up, 

 during the first winter after their arrival. It should also be 

 observed, that the tract allotted to them should be extensive, 

 shaded upon one side, and very dry. When once accus- 

 tomed to the climate, they are not delicate as to the choice of 

 food, but will eat, indifferently, maize, small peas, buck- 

 wheat, rice, and bread. M. Temminck is, however, of opinion, 

 that maize mixed with a little flaxseed is the most suitable 

 food for them. They are also remarkably fond of nettles, 

 which should therefore be occasionally given to them. 



The disposition of the pauxis resembles that of the curas- 

 sows ; they are mild and peaceable birds, and by no means 

 noisy ; they will live on terms of the best intelligence with all 

 the other species of gallinaceous birds, which is not at all the 

 case with the pintados, or pea-fowl, to which this further 

 additional objection exists, namely, that they are continually 

 uttering the most discordant cries. 



The gait of these birds is grave ; they fly but seldom, and 

 their flight is heavy, and ill sustained ; but they run with 

 wonderful celerity. They carry the tail in a pendant position, 

 and almost at every step it makes a little movement, widen- 

 ing horizontally. 



Their cry, according to Sonnini, may be very well repre- 

 sented by the syllables po-hic ; another more sharp and sonorous 

 sound, which they utter, proceeds, as M. Temminck thinks, 

 from the exceeding length of the trachea and its different 



