286 MELEAaEID^.— PHASIAXID.i:. 



gastrai plumis reliquis nigris, cuprescenti-rubro marginatis ; capite et coUo nudis caenileis, et papilHs 

 magnis rubris ornatis ; regione oculari scarlatina ; caruncula frontali nuda caerulea. Long, tota circa 

 33-0, alae 14-2, caudae 13-1, tarsi 4-4. 

 5 mari similis, sed vis ita vivide colorata, rectricum ocellis metallicis minoribus. Long, tota circa 33-0, alae 

 14-2, caudse 13-1, tarsi 4-4. (Descr. maris et feminae ex Peten. Mus. nostr.) 



Eab. Mexico, Buctzotz, Merida, Espita, and Yalladolid, Yucatan {Gaumer ^'^ '^^) ; 

 Beitish Honduras {Mus. Paris i), Western district {Blancaneaux "), Belize {Ley- 

 land 5, Taylor^) ; Guatemala, Yasha, Peten {0. S.^^}. 



This beautiful Turkey, known to the Spaniards as " Pavo real del monte," is an 

 inhabitant of the hot forests of Yucatan, its range extending into British Honduras, 

 where the species is well known to the mahogany-cutters, and it reaches also to the 

 neighbourhood of Peten in Guatemala. In Northern Yucatan, where the bird has been 

 much persecuted on account of the excellence of its flesh, it is now by no means 

 common and is very wary, at all events in the more frequented districts. Dr. Gaumer, 

 who has resided for many years in Yucatan and has made a special study of the habits 

 of M. ocellata, says that there is a district about ten leagues to the north and east of 

 Valladolid, which was depopulated by the migration of the Indians some fifty years ago, 

 where he found this Turkey fairly abundant. Salvin, during his short stay at Peten in 

 1862, obtained but a single specimen, killed by one of his hunters, and an excellent 

 account of this expedition is given in Elliot's work ^. Mr. Maudslay, who visited Peten 

 some years later to investigate the ruins on the island of Flores in the lake, had several 

 brought him by the Indians ; and he also tells me that when at Cayo, on the Belize River, 

 he saw several hybrids between this and the domestic bird reared by M. Blancaneaux. 

 It was from Peten, too, that Robert Owen brought the living specimens which he after- 

 wards presented to the Zoological Society's Gardens in the Regent's Park in 1861 "^ *. 

 Dr. Gaumer says ^^ that during the breeding-season, which is in May and June, the 

 male makes a peculiar drumming noise, very deep and sonorous, after which it utters a 

 cry resembling the rapid pecking of a distant Woodpecker or the croaking of a bull-frog. 

 In Merida skins are sold at from one to two dollars each and living birds at from eight 

 to ten. The eggs are similar to those of our domestic bird, but are somewhat smaller. 



Fam. PHASIANID-S. 



In this family are classed all the true Pheasants and Partridges of the Old World 

 and the so-called Partridges of America. The latter, however, constitute a separate 

 subfamily. The nostrils in the Phasianidae are always exposed, the tarsi and toes 

 are bare, thus difiering from the Grouse, which have the legs feathered, and there is 

 generally a well-developed spur on the tarsus of the male. 



* See P. Z. S. 1861, p. 403, t. 40. 



