that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 481 



earlier groups, than those of the Gallinaceous Birds in general. 

 The first group which we meet in this extensive family is the genus 

 Vinago of M. Cuvier, the bills of which, stronger and more solid 

 than they are usually found to be among the Pigeons, unite them 

 to Fenelope and Crax, which form the opposite extreme of the 

 present order, as well as to Musophaga and Corythaix, which 

 approach, as we have seen, the whole of the groups before us, 

 and connect them with the Perchers. From this genus Vinago, 

 which seems confined to the southern divisions of the Old World, 

 we may observe a series of groups leading gradually to the true 

 Cohcmba, of which genus the European species C. osnas, Linn, 

 may be considered to form the type. Hence we are led by seve- 

 ral intervening species to the '' Coliimbi-Gallines" of M. Le Vail- 

 lant, which, still retaining the soft and flexible bill of Columba, 

 approach the typical Gallinaceous Birds in their more elevated 

 tarsi, and in their habits of living in company and seeking their 

 nourishment chiefly on the ground. Among these may be noticed 

 some forms, C. Nicobarica, Linn., and C. carunculata, Temm., for 

 instance, which possess the feathered appendages, together with 

 the naked face and caruncles of the Linnean Gallince; and another 

 group, the Lophyrus of M. Vieillot, which exhibits the size and 

 general form of the same birds, as well as the singular plumes 

 which frequently decorate their head. This last-mentioned genus, 

 formed of the Crowned Pigeon of India, possessing the strongly- 

 formed leg and foot of Meleagris, Linn., but without the spurs, 

 while at the same time it retains the bill of Columba, may be 

 observed to open the passage immediately from the present to 

 the succeeding family. 



The genus Meleagris thus introduces us into the family of 

 PhasianidcE. In conjunction with Pavo, Linn., and Polyplec- 

 tron, Temm., that genus commences the present group by the 

 greater length of the hinder toe, in which character it resembles 



the 



