GUINEA-FOWL. 



213 



females. The eggs, from eight to fourteen in number, are buff spotted with brown. 

 It is a rather handsome bird, with a black throat, back ashy-gray varied with black, 

 and the under surface of the body white mottled with brown. The female is without 

 the black throat, but has this part fulvous white varied with blackish spots. 



The great family PHASIANID^E is the most important of the Gallinae, whether we 

 consider the number, variety, and beauty of the species of which it is composed, or 

 their great value as food-producers for the human race. It contains between eighty 





FIG. 100. Numlda cristata, crested Guiuea-fowl, aud N. jJiiclicram, helmeted Guinea-fowl. 



and ninety species, some of which rank with the most gorgeously plumaged creatures 

 to be found in the class of birds. Although many have been the arrangements pro- 

 posed for the members of this family, as to the number both of the sub-families and 

 genera, some writers considering that certain species should constitute separate fami- 

 lies, yet following the latest work devoted to these birds, the Phasianida? may be 

 divided into eight sub-families and about eighteen genera. 



The sub-family, Numidinae, contains the Guinea-fowls, consisting of those with crests, 



