282 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



favorite for its flesh but it has been so persistently shot that 

 its numbers have been greatly lessened. 



The Pheasants and Doves ( Orders GallincB and Columba}.- 

 The Gall hue include most of the domestic fowls, as the hen, 

 turkey, peacock and guinea fowls. They include also the chief 

 game birds of most countries, as the grouse, quail, partridges, 

 wild turkey, ptarmigan, etc. They all have the bill rather 



FIG. 129. The common Eastern quail, or Bob-white, Colinus mrginianus. 

 (Photograph by J. M. Slonaker.) 



short, heavy, convex and bony, adapted for picking up and 

 crushing seeds and grains which compose their principal food. 

 They are mostly terrestrial in habit and are sometimes known 

 as the Rasores, or "scratchers." The eggs are numerous, and 

 are laid in a rude nest or simply in a depression on the ground. 

 In many of the species polygamy is the rule. The young are 

 precocial. Among the more familiar wild gallinaceous birds 



