NUMIDA y E I I J E A ^ M
NUMIDA VERjiEAITXL
VERREA.UX’S GUINEA-FOWL.
NUMIDA VERREAUXI, Elliot, Ibis, (1870) p. 300.
H ab. Port Natal (V e r r e a u x ) .
T h e crested Guinea-fowls bear so close a resemblance to each other, that it is only on critical examination that their peculiar
differences can be appreciated. And it is also necessary, in order to come to an entirely satisfactory conclusion, that living
examples should be consulted ; for the, coloration o f the nude skin of the head and neck fades, in some instances changes entirely
t|l?f hue, and the various plaits and wrinkles, so conspicuous in the living bird, disappear entirely in the skin. It can thus be understood
that it is no easy matter to distinguish the four or five species which comprise this section of the genus from each« other, when
oply dried skins are obtainable. Fortunately I was enabled to take my description o f th e present species from two individuals
living in the Gardens o f the Acclimatization Society of Paris, where they had been received from Port Na ta l; and the colour of
the naked parts, as well as the peculiar folding o f the skin of the neck, may be .relied upon as correct. Specimens have been
contained in the Paris Museum for a long time, but were always confounded with the; N . cristata. The first example was brought
to France by the late M. Edouard Verreaux, on his return from Africa. My friend M. Jules P. Verreaux, after whom I have
had much pleasure in naming the species, also met with it during his firs# vpyage to Port Natal, in the year 1827. It appeared
to keep in small flocks of from seven to eight individuals, always remaining in the bushes that bordered the rivers, and was very
wild—so much so, in fact, that, during the'■several different journeys which he made into the interior, he was never able to
procure more than three specimens, which, unfortunately, were lost, withall his other large collections, by shipwreck on the coast
of France, on his return in 1840. The present species belongs to that section of the genus Numida whose members are
distinguished from the rest by possessing large, full, feathery crests, instead of bony casques or helmets ; and they were separated
by Wagler, in the ‘ Is is ’ for 1832, into a genus by themselves, under the term Guttera, This, however, I have not adopted
as a generic term, although I shall employ it in my arrangement o f the Phasianidae as a title for a subgeneric division, including
within it the few species of feathery-crested" Guinea-fowls which are known to ornithologists a t the present day.
This species may possibly be the Numida Edouardi o f Hartlaub; but as he makes no mention of the chesnut-colour on the upper
part of the breast in his description (which is very conspicuous in the Paris specimens), and, moreover, as in the ‘ Reisen in
Ost-Afrika ’ he refers N . Edouardi back again to N . cristata, ‘and makes it a synonym o f that species, I am obliged ,to consider
it different from the present bird, which assuredly is not the same as the N . cristata of Pallas. It would be necessary to have
the types of this species, and Dr. Hartlaub’s together to settle the doubt satisfactorily; and therefore I prefer to follow him in leaving
N . Edouardi as a synonym o f N . cristata, and for the present retain the name of N . Verreauxi for the present bird.
The species may be described as follows
Head'1 covered with a full, long, upright, jet-black c r e s t; the rest of the face and head b a re ; around the eyes black’; blue on
the sides and back o f the neck; bright red upon the throat, extending from the base of the lower mandibles to the feathers of the
breast. The skin of the neck full behind, forming a plait about midway and falling in a kind of fold over the feathers of the lower
part. Lower part o f neck behind and upper part of breast black, having a rich chestnut tint on-the breast. Entire rest of the
plumage black, with a greenish gloss, and spotted with light green. Wings spotted like the rest of the body; primaries dark brown;
secondaries black, with their inner webs spotted; outer wfffis of the first four of §jjj| rest unspotted, black with lines of bluish green
running their entire length as though the spots had become amalgamated. Tip of tail black, the spots being almost obsolete.
Thighs black. Bill light horn-colour, Legs and -feet blackish brown.
There is no difference in the plumage of the sexes.