2S6 cassell's book of birds. 



The Macuca, we learn from the Prince von Wied, inhabits the large forests of the warmer portion 

 of South America. It runs with facility, and passes the day in searching for fruits and berries upon the 

 ground. As night approaches it rises, with a very peculiar rustling of its wings, on to the branches of 

 the trees. The cry of this species is deep, dull, and resonant, and is heard most frequently in the early 

 morning and evening. The stomachs of some specimens examined by the above naturalist contained 

 red berries, large hard fruit, and the remains of beetles and insects, together with gravel and small 

 stones. 



The same authority states that the Macuca lays nine or ten large eggs, of a blueish green colour, 

 which are deposited in a slight depression in the ground, about September, and that the females brood 

 with so much zeal that upon several occasions they allowed themselves to be seized by his dogs rather 

 than desert their litde family. The t^esh of the Macuca is highly esteemed, and consequently this bird 

 is an object of ardent pursuit to the sportsman, who sometimes allures it by imitating its cry. A great 

 variety of snares are also employed for its capture by night. 



The SPUR-FOWLS (Galloperdices) seem to constitute a distinct group, remarkable on account 

 of the formidable character of their spurs, and the richness and variety of their colours, as exemplified 

 in 



THE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL. 



The Painted Spur-Fowl {Galloperdix lunulosa) — See Coloured Plate XXXI. In this beautiful 

 species the male has the head, face, and neck variegated with black and white, the feathers being 

 black, with white streaks and triangular spots, the head mostly black ; the upper plumage and wings 

 rich chestnut, with white spots on the back, sides of the neck, shoulders, and wing-covers ; primaries 

 earthy brown, tail dark sepia-brown, glossed with green in old birds ; beneath, the throat and neck are 

 variegated black and white, changing on the neck to ochreous buff, with small triangular black marks, 

 which disappear on the abdomen ; the flanks, thigh-covers, and under tail-covers dull chestnut. Bill 

 blackish, orbits and irides red-brown, legs homy brown. Length, thirteen inches, wing six, tail five, 

 tarsus one inch and a half. 



These birds are found in Southern India, in the jungles of the Eastern Ghauts, and upon the Hill 

 country in the vicinity of those mountains. They have been taken in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry 

 and the Ghauts, near Bellary, Cuddapah, and Hyderabad ; in Bengal and the Himalayas they are 

 unkno^^'n. They are generally associated in small flocks, keeping to the low shrubs and brushwood, 

 and seeking their food among fallen leaves and low herbage. Jerdon kept several individuals for a 

 long time, but found them too pugnacious and quarrelsome for domestication. Their tail is carried 

 erect, like that of the Jungle Fowl. A fine specimen of this species was brought to the Zoological 

 Gardens, London, where its beauty and vivacity attracted general admiration. 



J^. 



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