Natural history -- Nicaragua; Nicaragua -- Description and travel
One day, when riding down this path, I came upon a pack of pisotes
(Nasua fusca, Desm.), a raccoon-like animal, that ascends all the
small trees, searching for birds' nests and fruits. There were not
less than fifty in the pack I saw, and nothing seemed likely to
escape their search in the track they were travelling. Sometimes
solitary specimens of the pisoti are met with, hunting alone in the
forest. I once saw one near Juigalpa, ascending tree after tree,
and climbing every branch, apparently in search of birds' nests.
They are very fond of eggs; and the tame ones, which are often kept
as pets, play havoc amongst the poultry when they get loose. They
are about the size of a hare, with a taper snout, strong tusks, a
thick hairy coat, and bushy tail. When passing down this road, I at
times saw the fine curl-crested curassow (Crax globicera), as large
as a turkey, jet black, excepting underneath. This kind would
always take to the trees, and was easy to shoot, and as good eating
as it was noble in appearance. The female is a very
different-looking bird from the male, being of a fine brown colour.
Dr. Sclater, in a paper read before the Zoological Society of
London, June 17th, 1873, stated that in the South and Central
American species of Crax there is a complete gradation from a
species in which the sexes scarcely differ, through others in which
they differ more and more, until in Crax globicera they are quite
distinctly coloured, and have been described as different species.
The natives call them "pavones," and often keep them tame; but I
never heard of them breeding in confinement. Another fine game bird
is a species of Penelope, called by the natives "pavos." It feeds
on the fruits of trees, and I never saw it on the ground. A
similar, but much smaller, bird, called "chachalakes," is often met
with in the low scrub.
Mountain hens (species of Tinamus) were not uncommon, about the
size of a plump fowl, and tasting like a pheasant. There were also
two species of grouse and a ground pigeon, all good eating.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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