ORDER GALLINJE. 105 



however, possess peculiar characters which serve to distin- 

 guish them from the others. 



As much as the pauxis and curassows seek the society of 

 their consimilars, so much do the penelopes avoid that of 

 theirs. They are rarely found united in bands; the male 

 and female join company towards the season of reproduction ; 

 but as soon as the young can fly, they quit the society of 

 their parents, and conceal themselves in the woods. They arc 

 more uneasy and more noisy birds than the curassows, and, 

 for the most part, possess a more powerful voice. Among the 

 pauxis, cracc pauxi possesses the most sonorous voice ; while 

 in the genus penelope, the whistler has the most feeble ; of 

 such differences we shall speak more anon. Bajon informs us 

 that the curassows have but one brood in the year, while the 

 penelopes have two. 



The latter are nearly of the size of the pintado and of the 

 pheasant. They have, like the pauxis and the curassows, the 

 tail long, slightly graduated, and rounded ; the quills, twelve 

 in number ; the four external quills of each wing are the 

 shortest, and equally graduated ; the fifth quill, tliough pro- 

 portionally much longer than the first four, is yet one line 

 shorter than the sixth, which is the longest of all ; the feet 

 are provided with four toes, three before, and one behind ; 

 The last is articulated almost on a level with the front toes^ 

 which are united by a membrane as far as the first articula- 

 tion. The bill is moderate, more broad than high, and less 

 curved than that of the curassows. The upper mandible is 

 depressed, and does not commence to be curved until near its 

 extremity ; the base o± the bill, the region of the eyes, and 

 the sides of the head are naked. In many species a fleshy 

 appendage is remarked, which hangs on the middle of the 

 throat ; this skin is double, as in the turkey ; the nostrils are 

 lateral, of an oval form, placed in the cere, about the middle 



