A history of the Brazil

by James Henderson

Marido-he-dia (Husband it is Day) does not differ from the female of the bird called tendilhao (or chaffinch:) its song is its name badly articulated.

Morcegos, or Bats, are numerous everywhere, some being of the size of a pigeon; they are exceedingly prejudicial to cattle, to certain fruits, and to houses and churches, where they frequently discharge a black liquid that cannot be washed away.

Mutun is almost the size of a turkey-cock, of a beautiful jet black, very graceful, with a curled tuft or plume, quick eyes, the bill yellow, the legs green, and the thighs white. Its song is mournful; its flesh delicious. The female has the plume spotted.

There are also different sorts of Night-crows (Noitibos) or Coliangas, as they are commonly called. One kind frequents the margins of lakes during the day, and is of a beautiful and inimitable gray on the upper part, the lower part white, having a white spot in the middle of the wings, the extremities being black. The head is large and flat, with large black eyes. It has scarcely the appearance of a bill, with a crooked, and extremely large mouth; the largest toe, which is not proportioned to the smallness of the others, has a saw or comb towards the inner side. The flesh of this bird, when fat, is considered good.

Paho is the size of a pigeon, black, with the breast of a rosy hue, and the beak proportionate. Its flesh is also good when fat.

Papa-arroz is small and entirely black. It goes in bands.

There are upwards of twenty sorts of Parrots, reckoning from the smallest parroquet to the arara, or macaw. The flesh of the whole is deemed good, especially that of the juru. Those which compose the last class are of three sorts: the Araruna is entirely blue; the Caninde, also blue above, with the belly of a gold colour; and others which have the lower part and the head of a rose colour.

In lakes distant from inhabited places there are large Wild Geese some gray, some white, and others coralline.

The bird called the Pavao, or Peacock, is of the size of a lark when unfeathered; but, while feathered, is larger than a thrush. It is of a beautiful, brilliant, and changeable colour, beginning with green, and finishing with a bluish green upon the back; the belly is of a rose colour; the wings small and round, and of an exquisite gray; the lower parts of the thighs are dressed in dark feathers, covering the legs, which are very delicate and short; the tail is six inches long, the two central feathers are dark and of changeable colour, the four next are of a jet black, and all the six equal,—the other six have the extremities white, and gradually diminishing from the others in length: the head is rather large, covered with curled feathers, which form a little plume of dark blue; the bill is very short and a little curved, extremely wide at the root, and terminating in a point encircled with mustachoes or foretops thick and black; the eyes are large and black, with yellow eyelids.

There are five species of Partridges, all gray, and without tails. The smallest, called nambus, have a rosy beak; those called zabelez are a little larger than the European partridge, and have the legs yellow; the enapupez is still larger, with a long bill; those named macucos are more bulky, and of a dark colour, with two spurs at the joints of the wings, and a species of saw (such at least have the males) upon the hinder part of the legs; the capueiras, which are a little larger than the nambus, go in bands: all the others disperse after the mothers leave them. The whole sit upon the ground, excepting the macuco, which always perches upon a tree at night.