BIRDS — PHASIANIDAE MELEAGRIS. 613 



Family PHASIANIDAE. 



Ch. — Bill moderate ; the legs, toes, and nasal fossae, bare ; the tarsus usually with one or more spurs, in the male. The 

 hind toe elevated above the level of the others. Tail feathers more than twelve. Faci generally more or less naked. 



Of the entire family of Phasianidae, as above described, but a single genus, Meleagris, belongs 

 to America, the others being found entirely in the Old World. It includes the different 

 pheasants. Jungle fowl, the domestic chicken, the turkeys, the peacocks, and other well known 

 hirdSj among them by far the most important and interesting species domesticated by man. 



The precise limits of the family vary with different authors. Gray making five sub-families, 

 Pavoninae, Phasianinae, Gallinae, Meleagrinae, and Lophophorinae ; while Bonaparte has q^uite a 

 different arrangement. 



The family Numidinae of Keichenbach is equivalent to Meleagrinae of Gray, with the addition, 

 however, of almost another entire family, Tinamidae, of the same author, the members all 

 South American. It is not my place to attempt a reconciliation of these differing views of 

 classification, although the association of Meleagris with Tinamus and others of this group seems 

 not very unnatural. 



Sub-family MELEAGRINAE. 



Ch. — Tail moderate, truncate. Head and neck nearly naked, and more or less carunculated or with fleshy lobes. 



The preceding diagnosis is quite sufficient to distinguish the Meleagrinae of Gray from his 

 other sub-families, the Pavoninae having the tail and its covierts much developed and depressed, 

 but broad and rounded ; the Phasiardnae have the tail greatly lengthened and attenuated, 

 cuneate, compressed ; the Gallinae have the tail moderate, arched, and compressed, the sides of 

 the head only naked ; and the LopJiopJiorinae have the head feathered, except immediately around 

 the eye ; the tail moderate, broad, and rather depressed. 



The two principal genera of this sub-family, as described by Gray, are as follows : 



Meleagris. — Head and neck without feathers, but with scattered hairs. An extensible fleshy 

 process on the forehead, but no development of the bone. Tarsi of the male provided with 

 spurs. Tail nearly as long as the wing. 



NuMiDA. — Frontal bone much developed, producing a vertical crest. Lower jaw with two 

 fleshy lobes. No spur on the tarsi in the male. Tail very short. 



The domestic turkey is the type of Meleagris, while the Guinea fowl or Pintado represents 

 Numida, (N. meleagris.) The latter genus embraces five or six species, nearly every one the 

 type of a distinct genus of some author, and all inhabitants of Africa. 



MELEAGRIS, Linnaeus. 



Meleagris, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1735. Type Meleagris gallopavo, Linn. 



Ch. — Legs with transverse scutellae before and behind ; reticulated laterally. Tarsi with spurs. Tail rounded, rather long, 

 usually of eighteen feathers. Forehead with a depending fleshy cone. Head and the upper half of the neck without feathers. 

 Breast of male in most species with a long tuft of bristles. 



The above diagnosis will be sufficient to distinguish the true turkeys from their allies, 

 the nearest being Mimida, according to most authors. In this, besides the differences already 



