144 



Louis Agassiz. 



they have something of the character of both the 

 pheasant and peacock, and yet do not closely resem- 

 ble either. It is a curious fact that, with the ex- 

 ception of some small partridge-like gallinaceous 

 birds, all the representatives of this family in Brazil, 

 and especially in the valley of the Amazons, belong 

 to types which do not exist in other parts of the 

 world. Here we find neither pheasants, nor cocks of 

 the woods, nor grouse ; but in their place abound 

 the Mutum, the Jacu, the Jacami, and the Unicorn 

 (Crax, Penelope, Psophia, and Palamedea), all of 

 which are so remote from the gallinaceous types 

 found farther north that they remind one quite as 

 much of the bustard, and other ostrich-like birds, as 

 of the hen and pheasant. They differ also from 

 northern gallinaceous birds in the greater uniformity 

 of the sexes, none of them exhibiting those strik- 

 ing differences between the males and the females 

 which we see in the pheasants, the cocks of the 

 woods, and in our barn-yard fowls, though the plu- 

 mage of the young has the yellowish mottled color 

 distinguishing the females of most species of this 

 family. While birds abounded in such numbers, in- 

 sects were rather scarce. I saw but few and small 

 butterflies, and beetles were still more rare. The 

 most numerous insects were the dragon-flies, — some 

 with crimson bodies, black heads, and burnished 

 wings ; others with large green bodies, crossed by 

 blue bands. Of land-shells I saw but one, creeping 

 along the reeds ; and of water-shells I gathered only 

 a few small Ampullar ice.'' 



