THE GUINEA FOWL, OR PINTADO.
(Numida Meleagris.)
This bird, which is also called the Pearled Hen, was originally brought from Africa, where the breed is common, and seems to have been well known to the Romans, who used to esteem the flesh of this fowl as a delicacy, and admit it at their banquets. It went then by the name of Numidian Hen, or Meleagris, because it was fabled that the sisters of Meleager, who unceasingly deplored his death, were metamorphosed into Guinea Hens by Diana. In fact, although they are now domesticated with us, they still retain a great deal of their original freedom, and have a stupid look. Their noise is very disagreeable: it is a creaking note, which, incessantly repeated, grates upon the ear, and becomes very teasing and unpleasant. They belong to the class of birds called pulveratores; as they scrape the ground and roll themselves in the dust like common hens, in order to get rid of small insects which lodge in their feathers.
The Pintado is somewhat larger than the common hen; the head is bare of feathers, and covered with a naked skin of a bluish colour; on the top is a callous protuberance of a conical form. At the base of the bill on each side hangs a loose wattle, red in the female and bluish in the male. The general colour of the plumage is a dark bluish grey, sprinkled with round white spots of different sizes, resembling pearls, from which circumstance the epithet of pearled has been applied to this bird; which at first sight appears as if it had been pelted by a strong shower of hail.
If trained when young, these birds may easily be rendered tame. M. Bruë informs us, that when he was on the coast of Senegal he received as a present from an African princess two Guinea fowls. Both these birds were so familiar that they would approach the table and eat out of his plate; and, when they had liberty to fly about upon the beach, they always returned to the ship when the dinner or supper bell rang.