PALAMEDEA. 183 



Quelch, Timehri (2')n. p. 366, ISSS ( Abarv River) ; Salvad. Cat 

 B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 3, ISOo ; Beebe, Our Search for a "Wilderness, 

 p. 3S1. 1910 (Abarv Kiver) ; Brabourne i: Chubb, B. S. Ainer. i. 

 p. -52, no. 490, 1912. 



''llahooka'' (QuelcJt). 



Adult female. Head and neck all round, breast, sides of body, 

 under tail-coverts, back, winors, and tail black : crown ol: Lead 

 and nape speckled \\ith white : the feathers of the lower neck, 

 all round, "with silvery grey bases ; the lesser marginal upper 

 \ving-coverts white, or smoky white with brown tips ; abdomen, 

 thighs, lower flanks, and under wing-coverts white. '" Upper 

 mandible dark brown-grey, lower mandible paler ; frontal horn 

 vellowish white : legs ;ind feet ash-grev : iris brio-ht orange.^' 



Total length 6.5.5 mm.,culmeu -46, wing 520, tail 200, tarsus 123, 

 middle toe and claw. 143. 



Tiie adult male is said to be similar to the adult female. 



We do not know the exact locality of the bird described above. 



Breeding-season. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



^est. '• Built on the ground " (SchomhiirgJi). 



Egns. '' The clutch consists of two eggs '"' {SiJionJnnyk). 



Range in British Guiana. Generally distributed {Schonihiu'gk) ; 

 Abary River {Queh'h 4* Beehe). 



E.vtraUmital Range. Venezuela, Ecuador, Eastern Peru, 

 Northern Brazil. 



Habits. Schomburgk states fReis. Guiau. iii. p. 751) that 

 although this bird appears to be distributed over the whole of 

 British Guiana, he had only seen two individuals, though he 

 had often heard its peculiar voice in the woods ; the first, which 

 he was fortimate enough to shoot, was near Asecota. After 

 the breeding-season it is found in small companies of four to six 

 in number. Its food is supposed to consist cldefly of vegetables. 

 The nest is, according to the Indians, built on the ground and 

 tlie bird lays two eggs only. The natives do not eat its flesh, and 

 only use the large tail-feathers as arrow guides. 



^Ir. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) ii. p. 366) observed this species 

 on the Abary River, and remarks : — "Tlie 'Mahooka' or Horned 

 Screamer {Palamedea cornuta) — a bird about the size of a very 

 large turkey, with a horny string or \vhi})-like appendage at the 

 back of the head, and with two large and formidable sj)urs on 

 each wing. These birds, to judge by their curiously loud clanging 

 cry in the morning, are common all along tbis part ut the creek ; 



