Ot> MfT(0iJL?S#limS G-UIAWEWSIS!
ODONTOPHORUS GUIANENSIS.
Guiana Partridge.
S p e c if ic C harac t er .
Od. corpore subtus, a pectote ad caudam aurantio-fusco, vel arenaceo-rubro, griseo-fusco trans-
versim fasciato.
Head decorated with a rather full occipital crest, the feathers o f which are broad and incline
downwards; the general plumage is mottled brown, buff and black; cheeks, crown o f the
head and crest deep rusty red, crossed by indistinct bars and freckles o f buff; mantle and
upper part o f the chest washed with g r e y ; scapularies and tertiaries very strongly marked
with deep black ; primaries deep brown, crossed on the outer webs with buff; rump deep
fawn-colour, minutely spotted and freckled with black; under surface from the chest downwards
orange-brown or sandy red, transversely barred with greyish brown ; tail very short
and o f a dark brown, minutely freckled with buff; bill and feet blackish brown.
Total length, 10 inches; bill, a ; wing, ; tail, 2^; tarsi, 1a; middle toe and nail, 1a.
Tetrao Gaianensis, Gmel. Syst., vol. i. p. 76?•
P e rd ix Gaianensis, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 650.— Bonnat. and Vieill. Ency. M6th. Qrn.,
Part I. p. 216.
jPerdiw rufina, Spix, Av. Sp. Nov., tom. ii. p. 60. pi. 76&.
P e rd r ix de la Guiane, Buff. Ois., tom. iv. pi. 513.
Guiana Partridge, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 776.—lb . Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 323.
Odontophorus n ifu s, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. ii. p. 38. pi. 21 1 .
----------------- Gaianensis, G. R. Gray, List o f Gen. o f Birds, 2nd Edit. p. 80.
TocJero, o f the Macusi, and Duraquara, of the Accawai and Arawaak Indians.
T his species is very generally dispersed over Guiana, Cayenne and Surinam; it is also said to inhabit Trinidad.
Mr. Schomburgk informs me that it frequents the forests, and never visits the savannahs or open
country; that it is usually encountered either singly or in pairs, and never in coveys; that it runs very
quickly and is a shy bird; that when flushed it takes to the branches of the trees; that the eggs are
deposited upon the ground; and that they are eight or ten in number and of a greenish-white colour.
It utters two distinct kinds of note; one a rather loud whistling call, which is emitted in the morning and
in the evening; the other a sound like Tock'ro, whence its Macusi name. Its flesh is white, tender and
delicate; it is consequently always eaten by travellers whenever it can be procured, as well as by the natives,
who having their attention arrested by its call imitate it, and by this means bring the bird within range of
their gun or arrows.
Mr. Waterton, when speaking of this bird in his “ Wanderings,” says, “ before the morning’s dawn you
hear a noise in the forests which sounds like ‘ duraquara ’ often repeated. This is the Partridge, a little
smaller and differing somewhat in colour from the English bird. It lives entirely in the forests; and probably
the young brood very soon leave their parents, as you never flush more than two birds in tbe same
place, and generally only one.
The sexes are very similar in the colour of the plumage and also in size.
Habitat, Guiana and Surinam.
The Plate represents a male, a female, and a brood of young birds of the natural size.