COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 36i> 



birds of the metallic lustre of their plumage. At 

 the bottom of the case is a new species, described 

 by M. Cuvier, in the sixth volume of the Memoirs 

 of the Museum, under the name of meleagris 

 ocellata; the eyes of its iridescent plumage offer 

 a diversity of colours of a metallic lustre, which 

 change according to their position. It is one of 

 the most beautiful birds known, comes from the 

 bay of Honduras, in the gulph of Mexico, and is 

 the only spcimen in Europe. 



The thirty-first case, corresponding to that we 

 have just seen, is the first in our return along the 

 other side of the room, and is filled with hoccos, 

 which come from the warm countries of Ame- 

 rica, and are analogous to the turkeys. The pauxi, 

 called the stone-bird, on account of a very hard 

 tubercle at the base of its beak, is placed on the 

 last shelf (i). 



On the first shelf of the thirty-second case 

 are the quans or jacoos (penelope), American 

 birds with a dark plumage, a tuft on their head 

 and a part of the throat naked. On the second 

 is the napaul or horned pheasant from Bengal, a 

 very rare bird ; the male of which has two fleshy 

 horns behind the eyes, its plumage is crimson 

 spotted with white. On the third and fourth 

 shelves are the different races of domestic fowls, 



(1) It has the longest trachea of all known birds. 



