chachalaca

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“
Possibly they are the chachalaca (_Ortalis vetula pallidiventris_), a gallinaceous bird, commonly kept in semi-domestication in Mexico, whose bare eye ring and slightly erectile head feathers may be represented by the drawings.

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  1. The Texan guan, Ortalis vetula maccalli; a gallinaceous bird of the family Cracidæ and subfamily Penelopinæ, the only representative of the family in the United States. It is 23 inches long and 26 in extent of wings, of a dark-olive color, brightening to lustrous green on the tail, and changing to plumbeous on the head; the lower parts are of a dingy, undefinable color. It is easily domesticated, and is said to be sometimes used as a game-fowl. It inhabits the valley of the Rio Grande and thence southward. The name is variously spelled, the orthography here given being the usual one.

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Examples (2)

  • Possibly they are the chachalaca (_Ortalis vetula pallidiventris_), a gallinaceous bird, commonly kept in semi-domestication in Mexico, whose bare eye ring and slightly erectile head feathers may be represented by the drawings. —  Animal Figures in the Maya Codices
  • Two well-directed shots gave us half a dozen,--for the young chachalaca is not to be despised on the table,--and we added them to our stock of water-fowls and melons as tempting trophies to our companions from the new Canaan on which they were venturing To be continued KEPLER The acceptance of a doctrine is often out of all proportion to the authority that fortifies it. —  The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860
 

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  1. Imitative of the bird's cry.
 

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