462 
BUSTARDS, THICKNEES, AND CRANES. 
two birds are inhabitants of widely separated continents, putting mimicry out of 
the question. These birds are found in open districts in the interior of Brazil, 
where the ground is either clad with grass, or dotted over with low vegetation; 
and are generally found in pairs, or, during the breeding-season, in family parties 
of three or four. The coloration of the plumage harmonises well with that of the 
soil of the grassless districts. Mainly diurnal in its habits, the seriema often 
reveals its presence by its peculiar cry, which has been compared to the bark 
of a dog, and is most generally uttered in the early morning. In spite of being 
such an essentially cursorial bird, at night the seriema roosts on the bough of 
some tree. Its food consists chiefly of snakes, lizards, etc., on which account the 
bird is strictly protected by the Brazilians; and in this respect we may notice 
another resemblance to the secretary-vulture. Young rats, mice, worms, etc., also 
form a portion of the diet. During the pairing-time, which takes place in 
February, the males attract the females by a display analogous to that noticed 
under the head of the bustards. The nest of twigs is built in a low or moderately 
tall tree; and at the proper season contains a pair of pale-coloured eggs sparingly 
blotched with rusty-red. The down-clad young remain, it is said, a few days in 
the nest before they are carried down by their parents. Seriemas have laid in 
the London Zoological Gardens, and in two instances a young bird has been 
hatched, but in both the offspring has been devoured by its parent. 
The Trumpeters. 
Family PsornilD^E. 
The trumpeters (Psophia), al¬ 
though less aberrant than the seriemas, 
form another South American family 
of somewhat doubtful affinity, which 
may be best placed here, as apparently 
connecting the seriemas with the 
cranes. While agreeing with the two 
preceding families in having oval 
(holorhinal) nasal apertures in the 
skull, they differ from both in that 
the breast-bone has no notch, while 
there are long tracts devoid of plum¬ 
age on the sides of the neck, the 
number of toes being four. In appear- 
trumpeter. ance, these birds, of which there 
are several species, may be likened 
to large, long-legged, blackish guinea-fowls; the head and beak being strikingly 
fowl-like. In these birds the body is stout; the neck of moderate length: 
the head of medium size; the beak short and swollen, with its base convex, and 
its tip bent down and compressed; and the leg is long, with much of the tibia 
bare; and the toes (of which the third and fourth are connected by a basal 
