The MACUCA (Trachypelmus Brasiliensis) represents a division of the Crypturidæ possessing well-developed tail-feathers. The characteristics of this group are powerful bodies; short thin necks; small heads; strong, arched, and much-rounded wings, in which the fifth quill exceeds the rest in length; a moderately short, slightly-rounded tail, which is entirely concealed beneath the feathers of the upper covers; and strong feet, furnished with short, slightly-rounded toes. The hinder toe is very small, and placed high. Upon the back the plumage is reddish brown, marked with undulatory black lines; the breast and belly are yellowish grey; the leg-feathers have dark markings, and each side of the throat is decorated with a reddish yellow line. The plumage of the Macuca is reddish brown, broadly marked with black upon the back; the belly and breast are of paler hue, and more delicately striped; the throat is whitish, and the sides of the neck mottled with black and white. The eye is greyish brown; the beak dark brown above, light grey at its sides; and the foot lead-colour. This species is eighteen inches and two-thirds long, and thirty-one inches broad; the wing measures seven, and the tail four inches.
The Macuca, we learn from the Prince von Wied, inhabits the large forests of the warmer portion of South America. It runs with facility, and passes the day in searching for fruits and berries upon the ground. As night approaches it rises, with a very peculiar rustling of its wings, on to the branches of the trees. The cry of this species is deep, dull, and resonant, and is heard most frequently in the early morning and evening. The stomachs of some specimens examined by the above naturalist contained red berries, large hard fruit, and the remains of beetles and insects, together with gravel and small stones.
The same authority states that the Macuca lays nine or ten large eggs, of a blueish green colour, which are deposited in a slight depression in the ground, about September, and that the females brood with so much zeal that upon several occasions they allowed themselves to be seized by his dogs rather than desert their little family. The flesh of the Macuca is highly esteemed, and consequently this bird is an object of ardent pursuit to the sportsman, who sometimes allures it by imitating its cry. A great variety of snares are also employed for its capture by night.
The SPUR-FOWLS (Galloperdices) seem to constitute a distinct group, remarkable on account of the formidable character of their spurs, and the richness and variety of their colours, as exemplified in
THE PAINTED SPUR-FOWL.
The PAINTED SPUR-FOWL (Galloperdix Lunulosa)—See Coloured Plate XXXI. In this beautiful species the male has the head, face, and neck variegated with black and white, the feathers being black, with white streaks and triangular spots, the head mostly black; the upper plumage and wings rich chestnut, with white spots on the back, sides of the neck, shoulders, and wing-covers; primaries earthy brown, tail dark sepia-brown, glossed with green in old birds; beneath, the throat and neck are variegated black and white, changing on the neck to ochreous buff, with small triangular black marks, which disappear on the abdomen; the flanks, thigh-covers, and under tail-covers dull chestnut. Bill blackish, orbits and irides red-brown, legs horny brown. Length, thirteen inches, wing six, tail five, tarsus one inch and a half.
These birds are found in Southern India, in the jungles of the Eastern Ghauts, and upon the Hill country in the vicinity of those mountains. They have been taken in the neighbourhood of Pondicherry and the Ghauts, near Bellary, Cuddapah, and Hyderabad; in Bengal and the Himalayas they are unknown. They are generally associated in small flocks, keeping to the low shrubs and brushwood, and seeking their food among fallen leaves and low herbage. Jerdon kept several individuals for a long time, but found them too pugnacious and quarrelsome for domestication. Their tail is carried erect, like that of the Jungle Fowl. A fine specimen of this species was brought to the Zoological Gardens, London, where its beauty and vivacity attracted general admiration.
