RAZOR-BILLED CURASSOW.
So called from the sharp ridge along the top of the beak.
There are many different kinds of megapodes occurring in Australia, Samoa, and the Nicobar and Philippine Islands.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
CRESTED CURASSOW.
So called from its crest of curled feathers.
The Curassows and Guans are very handsome birds, but probably quite unknown to most of our readers, yet they may always be seen in Zoological Gardens. They are closely related to the megapodes, which we have just been discussing; but their nesting habits are quite different. They lay their eggs in nests, either on the ground or in trees, and brood over them like other birds. Many have brilliantly coloured bare skin on the head and handsome crests. They are natives of Central and South America, where they are often kept by the settlers, as they tame easily. It is said that one of the guans, when crossed with the domesticated fowl, becomes intensely pugnacious, and superior to the game-cock for fighting purposes.
Bustard-quail and Plain-wanderers.
These are small and quail-like in appearance, though they are probably only distant relatives of the Game-birds. But they are, nevertheless, remarkable birds. A great authority, Mr. A. O. Hume, writing of the Indian Bustard-quail, says of them: "The most remarkable point in the life-history of these bustard-quails is the extraordinary fashion in which, amongst them, the position of the sexes is reversed. The females are the larger and handsomer birds. The females only call, the females only fight—natives say that they fight for the males, and probably this is true. The males ... only ... sit upon the eggs, the females meanwhile larking about, calling, and fighting, without any care for their obedient mates; and, lastly, the males tend ... the young brood."