“The natives say two or three white eggs are laid and that very often the nest 
4e only a few twigs placed in the crow of a tall tree fern... The female taken on 
February 26 wae laying (about 8,000 feet, Los Esemiles, El Salvador, Dickey and van Rossen). 
"The shrill, astoundingly human whistle of the male black chachalaca was one 
of the first sounde heard in the ravine of the cloud forest on Los Beemiles. It was one 
of the last birdcalls to be positively identified, for although collecting commenced there 
on February 1, it was the 23d before a whistler was finally stalked and shot." (Dickey and 
van Rossen. ) . 
Those heard in the rain forest above Finca Helvetia gave the strange whistles 
go much like those made by @ human being: and also cackling, yelping notes, slightly suge- 
gestive of Ortalis. 
. The preceding paragraphs indicate the difficulty of shooting these mountain 
dwellers. During three of the days we hunted above Finca Helvetia in the heavy forest, 
they were heard several times and a fleeting glimpse obtained of one individual that had 
been calling from a fallen, fern-covered log surrounded by dense herbaceous growth fron 
two to five feet high. A bird dog would be invaluable in hunting this species. 
It seems probable that the best season to hunt black chachas is from September 
through January, as nesting apparently begins in February. 
27. Oreophasis derbianus @. R, Gray 
Horned Guan 
Guatemalan: fais4n, fais&n cornudo, khannanay 
English: horned turkey, mountain turkey 
Statug.--Reported to be a relatively common resident of the more isolated, Temperate Zone 
mountain forests. 
Description.--A large bird of turkey size (length about 812-915 mm.) with a round, upright, 
bony kmob or casque projecting from the crown of its head; wing large and broad; tail long 
and broad but slightly shorter than wing, rounded, the twelve tail feathers also rounded. 
The adults have the head, neck, back, scapulars, wing coverts and upper tail 
coverts glossy black, mostly with a bluish sheen; rump sooty black, black tail crossed by 
broad white band near base, abdomen and under tail coverts paler black; foreneck, breast, 
and belly white with narrow black shaft streaks. The bill is pale straw yellow: iris, 
white; knob red: legs and feet red. 
Measurenents.-- i 
Male (1) Female (6) 
Wing, 394 Wing, 332-378 (362) 
Tail, 350 Tail, 300-368 (329.1) 
Tarsus, 83 Tarsus, 80-92 (85.1) 
Exposed culmen, 21 Culmen, 19-23 (21.1) 
Weight.--About five pounds. 
General Distribution.-~Highlands of western Guatemala (mountains above Huehuetenango, Voledn 
zunil, VolcAn de Fuego) and adjacent portions of the State of Chiapas, México. 
Distribution in Guatemala.--Temperate Zone forests of the high mountains in the western and 
central parts of the Republic. 
Records.--This species was reported by local hunters to be in the dense cloud forest on 
Voledn San Lucas near San Lucas, So1014; between Chemal and Barrillas, Huehuetenango, in the 
high, virgin forests; and near Cotzal, Bl Quichéd, in the high mountain forests. 
In literature: Volcdn de Fuego (Sclater and Salvin, 18593224): ChiacamAn, east 
of Uspant4n, Bl Quichd (Salvin, 1874:188); Cerro Zunil (Salvin and Godman); Volcanes San 
Lucas, Tacana, and Tajamulco, also Santa Ilania near Tecpaém (Griscom). 
41 
