What is "curassow"

Curassow \Cu*ras"sow\ (k?-r?s"s?), n. [Native name in Brazil.] (Zool.) A large gallinaceous bird of the American genera Crax, Ourax, etc., of the family Cracid[ae].

Note: The crested curassow ( Crax alector) is black, and about the size of a small hen-turkey, with an erectile crest of curled feathers. It ranges from Mexico to Brazil. The galeated curassow or cushew bird ( Ourax Pauxi) is similar in size, and has a large, hollow, blue, pear-shaped protuberance on the head.

n. Any of several species of bird in the genera ''Nothocrax'', ''Mitu'', ''Pauxi'', and ''Crax'' of the Cracidae family, limited to the Americas.

n. large crested arboreal game bird of warm parts of the Americas having long legs and tails; highly esteemed as game and food

Curassows are one of the three major groups of cracid birds. Three of the four genera are restricted to tropical South America; a single species of Crax ranges north to Mexico. They form a distinct clade which is usually classified as the subfamily Cracinae.

• Genus Nothocrax
  • Nocturnal curassow, Nothocrax urumutum
• Genus Mitu
  • Crestless curassow, Mitu tomentosum
  • Alagoas curassow, Mitu mitu - extinct in the wild (mid-late 1980s)
  • Salvin's curassow, Mitu salvini
  • Razor-billed curassow, Mitu tuberosum
• Genus Pauxi – Helmeted curassows
  • Helmeted curassow, or Northern Helmeted Curassow Pauxi pauxi
  • Horned curassow or Southern Helmeted Curassow, Pauxi unicornis
  • Sira curassow, Pauxi koepckeae
• Genus Crax
  • Great curassow, Crax rubra
  • Blue-billed curassow, Crax alberti
  • Yellow-knobbed curassow, Crax daubentoni
  • Wattled curassow, Crax globulosa
  • Red-billed curassow Crax blumenbachii
  • Bare-faced curassow, Crax fasciolata
  • Black curassow, Crax alector