49© c u r u c u r.
Place.
4-
RUFOUS
C.
Pl. XXD
D escription.
P la ce .
O bserv A TIO N'.
inches and a quarter in length; the three outer ones (horten by
degrees, the outmoftones being Ihorter than the middleones by two
inches i thefe are ftriated with white on the outer edge, and tipped,
with the fame : the legs and claws deep alh-colour,.
Inhabits Cayenne, Guiana, &c.
Couroucou aq,ueue rouffe de Cayenne, PI, ml, 736.—B'uf oif. vi. 293.-
^"P'HE length of this bird is nine inches. The general colour
-*■ rufous : the belly,, thighs, and vent, yellow : the wing
coverts are ftriated with black and grey, and the quills are black,
with dufky edges : fix of the middle tail feathers are of equal
length, of a rufous colour, with black tips; jjj the three outer ones
tranlverfely ftriated' black and white, and tipped with white;
fhortening by degrees as in the others: the belly and legs dulky.
Inhabits Cayenne,
Linnaeus has mentioned the firft and' third of the four laft mentioned,
as diftinft fpecies ; and the fecond, or that with a white
belly, as a doubtful variety ; but Buffon feems to think that the
whole of the laft mentioned are mere varieties, from age, fex, or
other caufes, and'that they do not gain their green-gold plumage
till mature age * it is moft likely, therefore, that the intermediate
ftages, in which the colours-appear lb different, has been
the caufe of multiplying the fpecies, and muft continue to render
the circumftance doubtful,, till time,, and more accurate obfer-
vations, ihall afcertain the fail..
• The difference in plumage between young and old birds, I can readily believe
; iince even the old ones, which I have feen, differ much from one another.
In a collection which came from Cayenne, I obferved a young bird, in full feather,
which was nuholly of a brown colour,, with only here and there a trace of gold-green.