546 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



his plumage and gobbling. The tarsus is armed with a blunt spur, 

 and the bill is rather short and stout. Three species are now known. 

 Meleagris sylvestris, of N. America ; M. ocellata, of Honduras ; 

 and M. mexicana, Gould, undoubtedly the origin of the domestic 

 Turkey. They frequent woods, associating in large flocks. 



Fam. Tetraonid^ — Grouse and Partridges. 



Syn. Cohort Perdices, Bonap. 



Bill generally short, stout, and thick ; nostrils, in many, plumed 

 at the base; wings rounded in most, pointed in a few, longer 

 than in the Fhasianidce ; tail short or moderate, even or very 

 slightly rounded, forked and lengthened in a few ; tarsus rather 

 short and stout ; face feathered entirely, or with a small patch 

 of nude skin over or round the eye. Plumage of the sexes in 

 general differing but very slightly, sometimes not at all. 



The Grouse, Partridges, and Quails, which compose this family, 

 differ markedly in several points from the Pheasants and Jungle- 

 fowls, albeit some of them have more or less resemblance to the 

 birds of that group. The Black-cock with his forked tail and 

 black plumage recalls the coloring of Gallophasis and Acomus ; 

 and the Capercailzie has the perching habits of the Pheasants. 

 But there is something in the physiognomy of most of this family 

 which points them out, even to the common observer, as a distinct 

 . group. Tlieir form is heavy, stout, and massive ; the neck shorter ; 

 the bill stout and short ; the tail is shorter, and seldom raised ; 

 there is very slight, often no difference between the sexes ; and 

 the plumage of most has that peculiar character distinguished as 

 game plumage, rather a vague term certainly, and more evident 

 to the eye than describable in words. 



They have, moreover, a totally different geographical distribu- 

 tion, being found over all the world, whilst the Phasianidce are 

 confined nearly to the South-east of Asia. Bonaparte places them 

 as his Cohort Perdices ; but in relation with the Pteroclid(B and 

 Tinamidce, to neither of which they are very closely affined. 

 They, as a general rule, affect open grass lands, moors, fields, 

 and low scattered jungle, in contradistinction to the Pheasant 

 tribe which almost always prefer forests or thick coverts ; and 



