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Show 516 MESSRS. SCLATER AND SALVIN ON THE CRACIDJE. [JuiieO, The well-developed yellow caruncles at the base of the mandible distinguish this species from all its allies except C. daubentoni, in which the tail is broadly tipped with white. W e have only seen one female of this species-in Mr. Lawrence's collection. It agrees with Spix's figure and description. The variation of the sexes in this bird corresponds to that which obtains in Crax carunculata, which has likewise conspicuous caruncles on the base of the bill, lt the latter case, however, the caruncles are red instead of yellow. 5. CRAX DAUBENTONI. Hocco, Faisan de la Guiane, Buff. Pl. Enl. 86. Crax aldrovaudi, Reichenb. Columb. p. 134? Crax daubentoni, G. R. Gray, List of Gall. p. 15. Crax globicera, Temm. Nat. Hist, des Gall. iii. p. 12 et p. 686; Reichenb. Taub. p. 133. Crax mikani J, Pelzeln, Orn. Bras. p. 343 ( ? ) ? Nitenti-nigra : ventre imo et caudee apice albis : cristce elongatae plumis nigris recurvis : loris phimosis : cera tuberculata et mandibula utrinque ad basin carunculata flavis: pedibus nigricantibus : long, tota 32, alae 15*5, caudee 14, tarsi 4*5. Fern. Mari similis, sed crista ad basin albo obsolete fasciata : ventre et tibiis albo transfascio/atis: cera et rostro nigris. Hab. Venezuela, near Caraccas (Levraud). Mus. Brit., Paris. This Curassow was confounded by the older authors with C. globicera ; and it must always, perhaps, remain somewhat of an open question to which bird that name is more properly to be applied. Mr. Gray first recognized the existence of the two species, and in his ' List of Gallinae' gave the name daubentoni to the present bird, considering it to be that represented by Buffon and Daubenton as the Hocco, Faisan de la Guiane in the ' Planches Enlu-mine'es.' The two species are certainly close allies, the differences between them consisting in the present bird having caruncles at the base of the mandible, and white tips to the rectrices. The former character, however, is not very conspicuous, nor are these caruncles represented in the above-mentioned plate. W e were for some time in doubt respecting the correct habitat of this species ; but during a recent examination of the examples of this group in the Paris Museum, Sclater found a specimen of it which had been transmitted from the vicinity of Caraccas by M . Levraud. This has indicated, what we before suspected, that the true patria oi Crax daubentoni is the littoral of Venezuela and the northern portions of New Granada, where it takes the place of C. globicera on the north and C. alector on the south*. * Since this paper was written, the locality of this species has been further confirmed by the receipt by this Society of a living pair of this Crax from Tucacas, in Northern Venezuela (presented by James Wright, Esq., Sept. 29th). The bird described by Herr v. Pelzeln as the male of his Crax mikani seems to agree tolerably well with the female of this species. |
