rock-fowl

Member of the bird genus Picathartes, including two closely related species, the Guinea bareheaded rock-fowl P. gymnocephalus, and the Cameroon bareheaded rock-fowl P. oreas. The entire head and nape is bare of feathers in both species. Rock-fowls are about the size of a crow, and feed on insects, snails, crabs, frogs, and beetles. They build mud-nests on rocks and are restricted to West Africa.

In the Guinea bareheaded rock-fowl the crown and skin on the forepart of the face are bright yellow, with the hindpart black; in the Cameroon bareheaded rock-fowl the pattern is reversed, the fore-crown leaden blue, the hind-crown carmine red. The skin of the hind-neck is bright yellow in the first, carmine in the second, and very scantily feathered in each case. The general colour of the plumage in both is grey above and white below. The bill is long and fairly straight and powerful, and decidedly crowlike, and the wings are short and rounded. The legs are strikingly developed, and the feet are furnished with strong claws suitable for scratching in the ground and for the bird's characteristic long, springing hops.