GUAN

guan, a word apparently first introduced into the ornithologist's vocabulary about 1743 by edwards,[1] who said that a bird he figured (_nat. hist. uncommon birds_, pl. xiii.) was "so called in the west indies," and the name has hence been generally applied to all the members of the subfamily _penelopinae_, which are distinguished from the kindred subfamily _cracinae_ or curassows by the broad postacetabular area of the pelvis as pointed out by huxley (_proc. zool. society_, 1868, p. 297) as well as by their maxilla being wider than it is high, with its culmen depressed, the crown feathered, and the nostrils bare--the last two characters separating the _penelopinae_ from the _oreophasinae_, which form the third subfamily of the _cracidae_,[2] a family belonging to that taxonomer's division _peristeropodes_ of the order _gallinae_. the _penelopinae_ have been separated into seven genera, of which _penelope_ and _ortalis_, containing respectively about sixteen and nineteen species, are the largest, the others numbering from one to three only. into their minute differences it would be useless to enter: nearly all have the throat bare of feathers, and from that of many of them hangs a wattle; but one form, _chamaepetes_, has neither of these features, and _stegnolaema_, though wattled, has the throat clothed. with few exceptions the guans are confined to the south-american continent; one species of _penelope_ is however found in mexico (e.g. at mazatlan), _pipile cumanensis_ inhabits trinidad as well as the mainland, while three species of _ortalis_ occur in mexico or texas, and one, which is also common to venezuela, in tobago. like curassows, guans are in great measure of arboreal habit. they also readily become tame, but all attempts to domesticate them in the full sense of the word have wholly failed, and the cases in which they have even been induced to breed and the young have been reared in confinement are very few. yet it would seem that guans and curassows will interbreed with poultry (_ibis_, 1866, p. 24; _bull. soc. imp. d'acclimatation_, 1868, p. 559; 1869, p. 357), and what is more extraordinary is that in texas the hybrids between the chiacalacca (_ortalis vetula_) and the domestic fowl are asserted to be far superior to ordinary game-cocks for fighting purposes. (a. n.) footnotes: [1] edwards also gives "quan" as an alternative spelling, and this may be nearer the original form, since we find dampier in 1676 writing (voy. ii. pt. 2, p. 66) of what was doubtless an allied if not the same bird as the "quam." the species represented by edwards does not seem to have been identified. [2] see the excellent _synopsis_ by sclater and salvin in the _proceedings of the zoological society_ for 1870 (pp. 504-544), while further information on the cracinae was given by sclater in the _transactions_ of the same society (ix. pp. 273-288, pls. xl.-liii.). some additions have since been made to the knowledge of the family, but none of very great importance. guanabacoa (an indian name meaning "site of the waters"), a town of cuba, in havana province, about 6 m. e. of havana. pop. (1907) 14,368. guanabacoa is served by railway to havana, with which it is connected by the regla ferry across the bay. it is picturesquely situated amid woods, on high hills which furnish a fine view. there are medicinal springs in the town, and deposits of liquid bitumen in the neighbouring hills. the town is essentially a residence suburb of the capital, and has some rather pretty streets and squares and some old and interesting churches (including nuestra senora de la asuncion, 1714-1721). just outside the city is the church of potosi with a famous "wonder-working" shrine and image. an indian pueblo of the same name existed here before 1555, and a church was established in 1576. already at the end of the 17th century guanabacoa was the fashionable summer residence of havana. it enjoyed its greatest popularity in this respect from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century. it was created a _villa_ with an _ayuntamiento_ (city council) in 1743. in 1762 its fort, the little morro, on the n. shore near cojimar (a bathing beach, where the key west cable now lands), was taken by the english.