GALLIN.E: GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 719 



Subfamily STARNCENADIN/E : Quail Doves. 



See p. 709. Hallux not porft'ctly iusistout ; short, only about \ as long as middle toe and 

 claw. Feet large and stout ; tarsus longer than middle toe, entirely bare of feathers even on 

 the joint, completely covered with small hexagonal scales. With cueca, but without oil-gland 

 or ambiens muscle, the reverse of Zenaidince, of wliich it is a remarkable outlying form, grad- 

 ing toward gallinaceous birds in structure and habits ; like some Partridges, even to the special 

 head-markings. Including one isolated American genus and species, not referable to any 

 established Old World group. 



STARXCE'XAS. {Starna, name of a genus of partridges ; Gr. olvds, rmas, a dove.) Quail 

 Doves. In addition to the foregoing: Bill short, stout; frontal feathers projected in a point 

 on culmen. Wings short, broad, vaulted and much rounded ; 1st primary reduced. Tail 

 short, broad, nearly even. Size medium ; whole form and appearance quail-like. West 

 Indian. 



S. oyanoce'phala. (Gr. Kvauos, Jcxanos, blue; KfcfyaXrj, kephale, head. Fig. 486.) Blue- 

 headed Quail Dove. Crown ricli blue bounded by black ; a white stripe under eye, meeting 

 its fellow on chin ; throat black, bordered with white. General color olivaceous-chocolate 

 above, purplish-red below, lighter centrally. Length 11.00; wing 5.50 ; tail 4.50. Cuba; 

 Florida Keys, rare or casual, and not observed there of late years ; apparently also decreasing 

 in Cuba. Nest in bushes, April and May ; eggs 2, white or bufl'y, 1.40 X 1-05. 



Order GALLING : Gallinaceous Birds ; Fowls. 



Equivalent to the old order Rasores, exclusive of Pigeons — this name being derived from 

 the characteristic habit of scratching the ground in search of food ; connecting the lower ter- 

 restrial Pigeons with the higher members of the great Plover-Snipe group. On the one hand, 

 it .shades into the Columhce so perfectly that Huxley has projio-sed to call the two together the 

 " Gallo-colnmbine series ;" on the other hand, some of its genera show a strong plover-ward 

 tendency, and have even been placed in Limicolee. I have already (p. 70G) noted the inoscu- 

 lation of Gallina; with Columhce by means of the grouse-like Pigeons, Pierocletes ; it remains 

 to indicate the limits of Gallince in other directions, by referring to two remarkable groups, one 

 represented by Opisthocomus alone, the other consisting of Hemipods or Turnices. Both of 

 tliese have usually been wrongly referred to Gallina;. 



1. The wonderful Hoatzin of Guiana, Ojnsthocomus cristatus, is one of the most isolated 

 and ])uzzling forms in ornithology, sometimes placed near MHSophcujida', but assigned by 

 maturer judgment to the neighborhood of the fowls, which it resembles in many respects, as an 

 independent order Opisthocomi, sole relict of an ancestral type. The sternum and shoulder- 

 girdle are anomalous ; the keel is cut away in front; tiie furcula anchylose with the coracoids 

 (very rare) and with the manubrium of the sternum (unique); the digestive system is scarcely 

 less singular; the clawed digits persi,st separate for some time; and other characters are re- 

 markable. On the vvhcde, this bird suggests the Jurassic Ardueopteri/x, and some have hinted 

 at a primary division of living Aves for its sole accommodation. 



2. The Bush-quails or Button-quails of the Old World, Titrnieidcr, differ widely from 

 G(dlinfr, resembling Grouse-pigeons and Tinamous in some respects, and related to Plovers in 

 others. A singular cliaracter is a lack of the exten.sive vertebral anchyloses usual in birds, all 

 the vertebrae remaining distinct. Tlie palatal structure is curiously like that of Passeies 

 (a^githognathous). The crop is said to be wanting in some ; as is also the hind toe (except in 

 Prdloiiomus), and one carotid. Tiic nature is ptilopa^dic ami prajcocial ; eggs J3-5, spotted. 



