Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/787

Rh cranes, we meet with some very remarkable birds—forms that attract the attention of anatomists and ornithologists all over the world. Some of these birds are as yet but very imperfectly known either in the matter of their habits or their morphology. Conspicuous among these stand the trumpeters (Psophia) of South America, of which some seven species have been described (see Fig. 2), and all referred to the family Psophiidæ. They get their name from the loud and peculiar note they utter—a power associated with the singular structure of the windpipe in the male. Psophia appears to be related to the fowls, the rails, and the



cranes, and may be a subspecialized descendant of an ancient generalized group, to which the last two may also be traced back. The species vary in size and color, the best-known form being P. crepitans of Guiana, which is the "oiseau trompette" of the French and the "trompetero" of the Spaniards. Big as a small turkey in body, it has longer legs and neck and a beautiful plumage, and even its legs are said to be of a "bright pea green."

These birds are noted for forming in captivity the strongest attachment to man as well as to the domesticated fowls and animals of the barnyard. Some remarkable stories are told by travelers and others in this connection. Although these birds have