GENUS NUMIDA, Linnæus.

THE last form which we have to describe in this Family is the Guinea Fowl, as they are generally termed, constituting the genus Numida of Linnæus. It contains only three or four species, all natives of Africa, and some of them were known to the ancients. During the zenith of the Roman Empire they bore a high value at the public feasts, and with its decline were for a time lost to Europe, to which they were again most probably introduced by the early Spanish navigators. Their plumage is very ample, their form compact and huddled together, and more formed for abode on the ground than for flight. The bill is curved and strong. They are gregarious, and roost on trees. We have figured as examples