(Messrs. Sclater and Salvin's arrangement is here followed).
The Cracidæ, or Curassows and Guans, comprise the largest and handsomest game-birds of the Neotropical region, where they take the place of the grouse and pheasants of the Old World. They are almost all forest-dwellers, and are a strictly Neotropical family, only one species just entering the Nearctic region as far as New Mexico. They extend southward to Paraguay and the extreme south of Brazil, but none are found in the Antilles, nor west of the Andes south of the bay of Guayaquil. The sub-families and genera are as follows:—
Cracinæ, 4 genera.—Crax (8 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay (Plate XV., Vol. II. p. [28]); Nothocrax (1 sp.), Guiana, Upper Rio Negro, and Upper Amazon; Pauxi (1 sp.), Guiana to Venezuela; Mitua (2 sp.), Guiana and Upper Amazon.
Penelopinæ, 7 genera.—Stegnolæma (1 sp.), Columbia and Ecuador; Penelope (14 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay and to western slope of Ecuadorian Andes; Penelopina (1 sp.), Guatemala; Pipile (3 sp.), Venezuela to Eastern Brazil; Aburria (1 sp), Columbia; Chamæpetes (2 sp.), Costa Rica to Peru; Ortalida (18 sp.), New Mexico to Paraguay, also Tobago.
Oreophasinæ, 1 genus.—Oreophasis (1 sp.), Guatemala.
It thus appears that the Cracinæ are confined to South America east of the Andes, except one species in Central America; whereas nine Penelopinæ and Oreophasis are found north of Panama. The species of the larger genera are strictly representative, each having its own distinct geographical area, so that two species of the same genus are rarely or never found in the same locality.
Family 92.—TINAMIDÆ. (9 Genera, 39 Species.)
| General Distribution. | |||||
 | |||||
| Neotropical Sub-regions. | Nearctic Sub-regions. | Palæarctic Sub-regions. | Ethiopian Sub-regions. | Oriental Sub-regions. | Australian Sub-regions. |
| 1. 2. 3 — | — — — — | — — — — | — — — — | — — — — | — — — — |
The Tinamous are a very remarkable family of birds, with the general appearance of partridges or hemipodes, but with the tail either very small or entirely wanting. They differ greatly in their organization from any of the Old World Gallinæ, and approach, in some respects, the Struthiones or Ostrich tribe. They are very terrestrial in their habits, inhabiting the forests, open plains, and mountains of the Neotropical region, from Patagonia and Chili to Mexico; but, like the Cracidæ, they are absent from the Antilles. Their colouring is very sober and protective, as is the case with so many ground-birds, and they are seldom adorned with crests or other ornamental plumes, so prevalent in the order to which they belong. The sub-families and genera, according to the arrangement of Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, are as follows:—
Tinaminæ, 7 genera.—Tinamus (7 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay; Nothocercus (3 sp.), Costa Rica to Venezuela and Ecuador; Crypturus (16 sp.), Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia; Rhynchotus (2 sp.), Bolivia and South Brazil to La Plata; Nothoprocta (4 sp.), Ecuador to Bolivia and Chili; Nothura (4 sp.), Brazil and Bolivia to Patagonia; Taoniscus (1 sp.), Brazil to Paraguay.