Note on the Chachalaca. 



20 1 



NOTE ON THE "CHACHALACA'' 



Ortalis vetula maccalli Baird. 

 By Charles Durv. 



In the Autumn of 1893, tne Cincinnati Zoological Garden re- 

 ceived from Texas two nearly adult birds of this species. They have 

 been exceedingly healthy in captivity and quickly became tame and 

 friendly with their keeper, whom they soon learned to distinguish 

 from a stranger. During the temporary absence of the regular keeper 

 a strange man went in to clean their cage, when both birds immedi- 

 ately attacked him with great fury, flying up at his face and head. 

 Their food has consisted of cracked corn, soft prepared bird food and 

 chopped beef. They are very inquisitive birds. Alongside of the 

 aviary in which they were confined was another cage containing a 

 group of Leadbeater's Cockatoos. One of the Ortalis thrust his head 

 through an opening and was quickly seized by a Cockatoo, who bit 

 off both of his mandibles close up to the nostrils. But this terrible 

 injury did not seem to have any ill effect on the bird as it continued 

 to feed as usual and remained in perfect health. 



They sound their loud call notes early in the morning, and keep 

 up a continual scolding when a stranger approaches too closely. 

 March 9, 1896, the birds were suddenly frightened, when one of 

 them dashed itself violently against the wires of the cage, striking its 

 head and killing itself instantly. On dissection the bird proved to be 

 a male. The arrangement of the trachea is very peculiar, passing 

 down between the skin and pectoral muscles on the right side of the 

 keel of the sternum, forming a loop and returning on the same side 

 and passing into the thoracic cavity. In this specimen the trachea 

 was partly surrounded by a pad of fat. The accompanying figure 

 (kindly drawn by Mr. H. P. Ijams) will show it better than I can 



