AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRD. 993 
your bird found well within our borders, especially 
North, it is apt to be one of the Fowx forms, but not 
necessarily so in Texas. Some fowls or Gallinw have 
the hind toe down, and you can not be sure till you 
see that your bird has— 
No fleshy swollen flap over pele 
the nostrils (though sometimes a ane 
soft membranous scale); no per- ~~ 
foration of nostrils; no sharp- 
curved toe talons; no abnormal 
arrangement of toes except eleva- 
tion of the rear; no deep broad gape ; no size under 
five inches combined with needlelike bill. If all these 
negatives prevail, the bird is a Fow1 form, whether 
the rear toe be up or down. 
The only fowl in the United States with rear toe 
entirely down is the Texas guan. 
(23) If the bird has not all the foregoing negative 
characteristics it may be more easily distinguished. 
(24) With soft fleshy flaps over the nostrils (claws 
ordinary), it is a Prazon form. 
For fear you may mistake these flaps for a cere, 
see that the claws are blunt and the nostrils never 
perforate. Some of our ground 
doves are quite partridgelike in ap- 
pearance, but their beaks are long, 
narrow, and rather straight on top, 
while those of partridges are stout, 
short, broad, and much curved on 
top. But, as noted in the last 
chapter, the pigeons and fowls grade so imperceptibly 
18 

Bill of a fowl form. 
_— 

Typical bill of the 
pigeons. 
