164 



CRESTED CURASSOW. 



tirely black : the abdomen and the inferior taif- 

 coverts are invariably white : the females resemble 

 the male, but when young have a smaller crest, 

 and their colours are more dull : their beak is 

 grey, and the feathers on the breast are slightly 

 tipped with a grey line ; in which latter circum- 

 stance they somewhat resemble young males. 



Before the first moult the young measure about 

 two feet in length : the feathers of the crest are 

 straight : the under mandible of the beak, and the 

 tip of the upper, are of a whitish horn-colour: 

 the sides of the head and base of the beak naked : 

 the crest streaked alternately with black and 

 white : the neck and the breast are dull black : 

 the whole of the upper parts of the plumage, the 

 secondary wing-feathers, the quills, and the feathers 

 of the tail, varied with broad bands of reddish 

 white ; those on the top of the back being nar- 

 rowest : the breast, the belly, and the thighs, are 

 of a deep red, with distant black stripes : the 

 abdomen and the under tail- coverts are bright red, 

 and the feet are reddish grey : as the bird advances 

 in age, the transverse white bands disappear, and 

 by the completion of the second moult they are 

 entirely obliterated, and the belly, the abdomen, 

 and the under tail-coverts become of a pure white, 

 and the crest loses the whole of the white with 

 which it was varied. 



Like many other gallinaceous birds, this will 

 mix with other species, and produce singular 

 hybrids, particularly with C. rubra, as there men- 

 tioned. A curious variety, a hybrid, is described 



