18 BIRD GALLERY. 



Unlike the other members, this bird makes no mound, but lays its eggs, 

 which are deposited at intervals of ten or twelve days, in holes in the 

 sand on the sea-beach just above high-water mark. The birds visit 

 the shore in pairs. Several females deposit their eggs in the same 

 hole, and having covered them with sand return to the forest and take 

 no further notice of them. 



,^ 



] 



Family II. CracidjE. Curassows and Guans. 



[Cases The Curassows and Guans are distinguished from the Megapodes 

 by having a tufted oil-gland, and diflfer entirely in their breeding 

 habits. The eggs, which are white and usually two in number, are 

 laid in a nest made either in a tree or on the ground, and incubated in 

 the usual manner. The young when hatched are covered with down. 



Nearly sixty species are known, all inhabitants of the forest regions 

 of Central and South America, where they seem to take the place of the 

 larger Game-Birds of the Old World. 



They may be grouped into three subfamilies : — A. With the upper 

 mandible higher than broad (1. Cracina). B. With the mandible 

 broader than high and with the top of the head mostly naked, and 

 having an elevated cylindrical, occipital helmet (2. Oreophasince) , or, 

 with the top of the head feathered and without a helmet (3. Pene- 

 lopirue). 



The true Curassows have the feathers on the top of the head 

 semierect and curled at the extremity, and are represented by Crax 

 alector (44), a native of the northern parts of South America. Some of 

 the allied species differ in having a swollen knob at the base of the 

 upper mandible and wattles at the base of the lower. They are readily 

 domesticated in their native country and valued as food. 



One of the most remarkable is Lord Derby's Mountain-Pheasant 

 {Oreophasis derbianus) (46), with its curious helmeted head, the sole 

 representative of its subfamily. This species is only found in 

 Guatemala, and is apparently restricted to the higher forests of the 

 Volcan de Fuego. Like the Currasows and Guans, it feeds on fruits 

 in the higher branches of the forest trees during the early morning, 

 and as day advances descends to the underwood, where it spends its 

 time basking or scratching among the leaves. 



The Guans and Penelopes form the last subfamily, which includes 

 six genera and contains the majority of the species. Of the Penelopes 

 (Penelope) (47-51), five species are exhibited, and may be recognized by 

 their naked chin and throat with a median wattle. The Black Penelope 

 {Penelopina nigra) (52), from the highlands of Guatemala, is the sole 

 representative of the second genus, in which the sexes differ in plumage. 



