468 CLASS AVES. 



was but little known before the time of M. D'Azara. To that 

 judicious naturalist, however, we are indebted for details con- 

 cerning its mode of life, which leave us nothing more to wish 

 for, and which prove that it is not a bird frequenting marshes, 

 and living on fish and aquatic reptiles. On the contrary, it 

 does not sojourn in the neighbourhood of waters, nor even in 

 low grounds. It frequents the borders of dry and lofty 

 forests, and stony hills in preference. Its aliment is com- 

 posed of terrestrial reptiles and insects. M. D'Azara is per- 

 suaded that it never drinks, and eats no grain of any kind. 

 These birds are met in pairs, or in small flocks ; they fly on 

 the approach of man to a very great distance, and never 

 betake themselves to their wings but as a resource in the last 

 extremity of danger. 



The Brazilian Cariama, which is sometimes domesticated, 

 carries its neck stiff" and vertical, and the head always raised. 

 Its look is proud and disdainful, its gait grave and measured. 

 When it entertains any suspicion of danger, it examines all 

 around it with great attention before it decides whether to stop 

 or run away. This last is its only mode of defence, and it never 

 attacks or disturbs any other bird. 



The natives of Paraguay give it the appellation of Saria, 

 and the Brazilians call it Cariama; both names have relation 

 to its shrill cry, not unlike that of a young turkey, but so 

 loud, that it may be heard at the distance of a mile. We 

 are told, that its flesh is delicate, and the Spaniards, in con- 

 sequence, have called it a pheasant. It is rare in Paraguay, 

 and is not found towards the river De la Plata. 



We now come to our author's family of the Cultirostres ; 

 the first tribe of which, forming in itself a great genus, is 

 the Cranes. 



These birds were ranged by Linnaeus in his genus Ardea, 

 and not distinguished from the herons, which, however, 

 differ from them, especially by the bill, open as far as under 

 the eyes ; the denticulation on the internal edge of the claw of 



