ORDER GALLING. 117 



and of an exquisite flavour. The same indeed may be 

 aveiTed of all the members of the family of Alector. 



These three being the best avithenticated, and best known 

 species of Hocco, we pass over the others, and proceed to 

 those of Pauxi. It is necessary, however, first, that we 

 should insert the description of the Blue Curassow, though, 

 as we have already mentioned, it appears to belong to another 

 genus. It is the size of a female turkey. The bill is con- 

 siderably elevated, and rounded above. The general colour 

 of the plumage is fine blue. The feathers of the crown are 

 long, and form a crest, inclining backwards. From breast to 

 thighs is greenish yellow. The abdomen, vent, and thighs, 

 are deep ferrugineous. The tail is long, and rounded at the 

 end. It inhabits Sierra Leona. 



The Crax Pmixi, called by the French Pierre or Pauxi 

 a Pierre, is not, as Buffon would have it, a stupid bird. If 

 its manners be mild and familiar when it is reduced to 

 domestication, it possesses in its wild state all the necessary 

 faculties to withdraw itself from the pursuit of the hunters. 

 It is possible that in those places where man does not habi- 

 tually tread, that the pauxis, like the hoccos, suffer themselves 

 to be shot easily ; but in the neighbourhood of habitations 

 they have become as wild, as distrustful, and as rare, as all 

 the other birds of these countries. This Pauxi, like all the 

 rest of its tribe, submits itself readily to domestication. It 

 will follow and caress its master, and has much more grace and 

 lightness in its movements than the turkey. It can be reared 

 as all the rest of the family can, like the fowls of the poultry- 

 yard, and its maladies are similar and similarly treated. 



According to the testimony of Aublet and Fernandez, the 

 Crax Pauxi nestles on the ground like the pheasants, leads 

 about its young, and recalls them in a similar strain. The 

 young at first live on insects, and then, when they grow large, 

 on fruits, grains, and in fact on every thing on which poultry 

 can be fed. In a state of domestication, and when she has 



