BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 231 



<Lophophorinse, Elliot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 223, in text (genera Lopho- 



phorus, Ceriornis, and Pucrasia). 

 <Pavoninae Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 324 (genera Pavo, Polyplectron, 



Argusianus) . 

 <Pavoninae Gray, List Gen. Birds, 1840, 59 (genera Polyplectron, Crossoptilon, 



and Pavo). 

 <Gallinae Elliot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 215 in text (Gallus only).— Gadow, 



in Bronn, Thier-Reich, Vog., ii, 1891, 172 (=:Phasianinae). 

 <Caccabinin3e, Gray, Cat. Gen. and Subgen. Birds, 1855, 107 (genera Caccabis, 



Alectoris, Avnnoperdix, Tctraogallus, and Lenva). 

 <Odontophorin3e Gray, Cat. Gen. and Subgen. Birds, 1855, 107; Hand-list, ii, 



1870, 271.— CouEs, Key North Amer. Birds, 1872, 236; ed. 2, 1884, 588.— 



Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 137. — Elliot, Stand. Nat. Hist., 



iv, 1885, 198, 205, in text.— Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, 



99. — Ridgway, Orn. Illinois, ii, 1895, 14. — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.- 



Amer., Aves, iii 1902, 287.— Knowlton, Birds of the World, 1909, 293. 

 <Odontophorid3e Sharpe, Hand-list, i, 1899, xi, 43. — American Ornithologists' 



Union Committee, Check-list, ed. 3, 1910, 134. — Dubois, Rev. Fran?. d'Orn. 



Nos. 49, 50, 1913 (3). 

 <Ortyginae Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 638. — Baird, Brewer, and 



Ridgway, Hist. North Amer. Birds, iii, 1874, 466. 

 <Odontophorinae Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 321. 

 XPerdicidae Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 638 (includes Old World 



partridges and quails and Turnicidae). 

 <Perdicidse Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. North Amer. Birds, iii, 1874, 



466 (includes Old World partridges and quails). — Sharpe, Rev. Rec. Att. 



Classif. Birds, 1891, 68 (includes Old World partridges and quails). 



Alectoropode galline birds with postacetabular region only moderately 

 broad ; hypocleideum oval in contour ; tarsometatarsus more than half 

 as long as tibia; tarsus never wholly feathered (rarely with upperpart 

 feathered), the planta tarsi frequently spurred (spurs 1-5) ; toes never 

 pectinated or feathered; nasal fossae wholly unfeathered (except, some- 

 times, a narrow strip along lower posterior margin) ; neck never with 

 inflatable air sacs and mandibular tomium not serrated or toothed (except 

 in subfamily Odontophorinae). 



The Phasianidae comprise so many types of such diverse form that 

 it is difficult to frame a more detailed diagnosis of the group than that 

 given above. The group comprises over 50 genera and between 250 

 and 300 species and subspecies, ranging in size from the peacocks, the 

 males of which are 6 to nearly 7 feet long (including the long "train"), 

 to the diminutive quails, some of which are less than 6 inches in total 

 length. Some, as the true pheasants, the monals or Impeyan pheasants, 

 and the peacocks, are among the most magnificent of birds, the brilliant 

 and varied coloration of the males rivaling even that of the humming- 

 birds and birds-of-paradise ; while many other groups are composed of 

 species as plainly colored as it is possible for birds to be. 



With so great a number of excessively diverse forms, it is exceedingly 

 difficult to classify the genera satisfactorily into trenchant subfamily and 



