The Guinea Fowl, or Pintado. 309 
epithet of pearled has been applied to this bird ; which 
at first sight appears as if it had been pelted by a strong 
shower of hail. 
If trained when young, these birds may easily be ren- 
dered tame. M. Brue informs us, that when he was on 
the coast of Senegal he received as a present from an 
African princess two Guinea fowls. Both these birds 
were so familiar that they would approach the table and 
eat out of his plate ; and, when they had liberty to fly 
about upon the beach, the} 7 always returned to the ship 
when the dinner or supper bell rang. 
In a wild state, it is asserted that the Pintado associ- 
ates in large flocks. Dampier speaks of having seen be- 
tween two and three hundred of them together in the 
Cape de Verd Islands. They were originally introduced 
into our country from the coast of Africa somewhat 
earlier than the year 1260. 
In Jamaica, where they have run wild, and become 
very destructive to the plantations, they are sometimes 
caught, Mr. Gosse tells us, by the following stratagem : — 
A small quantity of corn is steeped for a night in proof 
rum and is then placed in a shallow vessel, with a little 
fresh rum, and the water expressed from a bitter cassava 
grated. This is deposited within an enclosed ground to 
which the depredators resort. A small quantity of the 
grated cassava is then strewed over it, and it is left. 
The fowls eat the medicated food greedily, and are soon 
found reeling about intoxicated, unable to escape, and 
content with thrusting their heads into a corner. It is 
almost unnecessary to observe that in this state they 
become an easy prey. Pigeons are sometimes caught 
in this manner in Germany by the poachers. 
This bird has, of late years, greatly increased in this 
country, and is often seen hanging at the poultry shops 
and in the markets ; the great abundance of them has 
considerably reduced their value, and they now sell, 
proportionally, like other fowls. The eggs are smaller 
and rounder than those of the common hen, and of a 
speckled reddish-brown colour. They are esteemed a 
very delicate food. 
