256 CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



The earliest description of this splendid bird is given by Aldrovandus, in the sixteenth century ; 

 this was taken from a drawing sent some years before by the Emperor of Japan to the Pope, who gave 

 it to his nephew, the Marchese Tachinetti, from whom Aldrovandus received it. On the authority of 

 this author it had been described in several scientific works, till at length, no further knowledge being 

 gained concerning the species, its actual e.\istence began to be doubted, and Cuvier, in his " Regne 

 Animal," says, " Le Paon de Japon, ou Spicifere {F. muticus, Linn.), n'est rien moins qu'authentique. 

 Le veritable Paon sauvage du Japon differe peu du notre, par les couleurs, et point par I'aigrette." 



M. Temminck, however, admitted the species, and described it principally from the account of 

 Le Vaillant, who had seen an example of it in a menagerie at the Cape of Good Hope. At the time 

 of the publication of Temrainck's work, a specimen was received in the Paris collection, and two 

 males were procured by Professor Jameson for the Ornithological Museum of Edinburgh. 



The GUINEA FOWLS {Nutnidcs) are recognisable by their strongly-built body, short wings, 

 moderate-sized tail, very long feathers in the upper tail-covers, moderate-sized, short-toed feet, without 

 spurs ; strong beak, and head and neck more or less denuded of feathers, and decorated with a crest, 

 plume, wreath, or helmet of feathers, and lappets of skin. The plumage of both sexes is usually dark, 

 enlivened with white. The female is adorned vi'ith a dress similar to that of her mate. 



The ROYAL GUINEA FOWLS [Acryllium) differ in many particulars from all their congeners. 

 These birds have a slender body, long thin neck, small bare head, decorated with a wreath, extending 

 from the ears over the back of the head, and formed of very short velvety feathers ; the feathers on 

 the throat are lancet-shaped ; the upper secondaries considerably exceed the primaries in length, and 

 the centre tail-feathers are longer than those at the exterior. The short strong beak is much curved, 

 and has the upper mandible very decidedly hooked at its tip ; the tarsi are high, and furnished with a 

 spur-like wart. The members of this group are natives of Africa. 



THE VULTURINE ROYAL GUINEA FOWL. 

 The VuLTURiNE Royal Guinea Fowl {Acryllium vulturinum) has the head and upper part of 

 the throat destitute of feathers, but besprinkled with hairs of a black colour, which are longest on the 

 neck ; the nape is thickly clothed with short, velvet-like, brown down, and the lower part of the neck 

 ornamented with long, lanceolate, and flowing feathers, having a broad stripe of white down the 

 centre, to which on each side succeeds a line of dull black, finely dotted with white, and margined 

 with fine blue. The feathers of the inferior part of the back are of a similar form, but broader, with 

 a narrower line of white down the centre, and with the minute white dots disposed in irregular and 

 obliquely transverse lines. The wing-covers, back, rump, tail, under tail-covers, and thighs, are 

 blackish brown, ornamented with numerous round and irregular spots of white surrounded by circles 

 of black, the intermediate spaces being filled with very minute spots of dull white ; the primaries are 

 brown, with light shafts and spots of brownish white on the outer web ; and the tips of the inner 

 secondaries brownish black, with three imperfect lines of white disposed lengthwise on the outer web, 

 and three rows of irregular spots of white on the inner web ; the breast and sides of the abdomen 

 are of a beautiful metallic blue, the centre of the abdomen black, the flanks dull pink, with numerous 

 spots of white surrounded by circles of black ; the bill is brownish, and the feet brown. 



" Independently of the chaste and delicate markings which adorn the whole of this tribe, the 

 neck of the present species of Guinea Fowl," says Mr. Gould, " is ornamented by a rufif of lanceolate 

 flowing plumes, which new feature, as well as the head being entirely devoid of fleshy appendages, 

 render it conspicuously different from all its congeners. We are not able to furnish any account of its 



