Guans, curassows and chachalacas | Cracidae

Hokko's en chachalaca's | Crácidos

In Mexico and Central America the family numbers ten species in six genera, from the noisy chachalacas of scrub and forest edge to the guans and the Great Curassow of tall forest and the Horned Guan, found only in cloud forest in the mountains of Chiapas and Guatemala. They are gamebirds that, unlike their relatives, live mainly in trees: the tail is long and broad, the legs are sturdy and the hind toe sits level with the front toes, so they walk and clamber easily along branches. Many species have bare throat skin or a coloured dewlap, and in curassows the male carries a crest of curled feathers and a yellow knob on the bill. They feed mainly on fruit, leaves and flowers and are important seed dispersers. Chachalacas call in chorus at dawn, guans make a dry rattle with their wings in flight, and in several species the windpipe is elongated, producing deep booming and whistling notes. The nest is an untidy platform in a tree or shrub, holding two or three large white eggs with a rough shell. Hunting has made the larger species scarce almost everywhere.