126 CLASS AVES. 



for themselves •, they do not seek, but even avoid the society 

 of their consimilars. They are the earliest birds which salute 

 the dawn with their cry, which does not correspond with their 

 other good qualities, for it is loud and disagreeable ; but it is 

 not frequently heard, and scarcely ever during the course of 

 the day. 



The Marails are almost always perched ; they descend to 

 the ground, only for the purpose of gathering the fruits and 

 grains, which constitute their subsistence. They fly heavily, 

 and with much noise ; but, in compensation, they run with 

 remarkable swiftness, keeping their wings unfolded. Tiieir 

 flesh is very good, though not better than that of the pheasant : 

 it is, however, somewhat hard, except in the young birds. 



The total length of the Marail is twenty-three or twenty- 

 four inches ; the tarsus, two inches and a half. The female 

 differs from the male only by having a less ample tuft, and 

 by redder shades in the plumage. 



The tube of the trachea in the Marail, is composed of rings 

 similar to those which have been remarked in the other Pene- 

 lopes ; these rings are alternate, and the intervals mem- 

 branous ; the tube, after having followed the length of the 

 oesophagus, through the neck, as far as the clavicles, passes to 

 the left side of the gizzard, is directed towards the exterior of 

 the cavity of the thorax, passing over the anterior portion of 

 the left clavicle, between the two bones of the furca ; it then 

 advances over the front, or rather over the prominent part of 

 the sternum, turns at some distance from the crest of tliis 

 bone, returns over the same side between the bones of the 

 furca, and passes, refolding itself, into the cavity of the 

 thorax ; the length of the tube which advances between the 

 ossa fur cat a, is an inch and a half. 



The circumvolution of the tube of this trachea differs from 

 all the others, in the genus Penelope. It approximates more 

 to the trachea of Craoc Alector, of Tetrao Urogallus, and of 



