I 



168 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



X columbj:. 



Bill straight, compressed, horny at vaulted tip, which is separated 

 by a constriction from the soft membranous basal portion; nostrils 

 beneath a soft tumid valve ; legs feathered to tarsus or beyond ; hallux 

 generally incumbent ; front toes rarely joined by membrane at base. 



COLUMBIDM {PIGEONS). 



Bill always shorter than head ; there is a long nasal groove, the 

 posterior portion occupied by a cartilaginous scale, covered by a soft 

 cere-like skin ; the nostrils constitute an elongated slit in the lower 

 border of the scale; wing large, lengthened, and pointed, with ten 

 primaries ; tail rounded or wedge-shaped; tarsus usually short, rarely 

 longer than middle toe, scutellate in front, and with hexagonal plates 

 at sides and behind. 



Columba livia, Rock Dove, I. 105 -~ 



Columba anas, Stock Dove, II. 69 



Columba palumbus, Ringdove, I. 89 



Turtur communis (T. auritus, Columba turtur), Turtle Dove, 1. 13 



X GALLING. 



Bill generally short, stout, convex, with obtuse vaulted tip ; nostrils 

 scaled or feathered ; legs usually feathered to tarsus or beyond, tarsus 

 when not feathered generally broadly scutellate; hallux ordinarily 

 elevated, anterior toes generally joined at base by a membrane, claws 

 blunt, little curved ; wings strong, short, and concavo-convex ; tail- 

 feathers commonly mon than twelve. 



TETRAONIDM {GROUSE). 



Tarsus densely feathered ; nostrils in fossa concealed by feathers ; 

 toes usually naked (feathered to claws in Lagopus), with pectinations 

 of scales along the edges ; tail-feathers sixteen, eighteen, or twenty ; 

 tail rounded, acute, or forked. Some genera with inflatable air-sac in 

 neck. 



Lagopus mutus (Tetrao lagopus, L. vulgaris), Ptarmigan, III. 5 *~ 



Lagopus tcoticus (Tetrao scoticus, T. lagopus), Common Grouse, 

 IV. 17 



Tetrao urogallus, Capercailme, IV. 45 • — 



PHASIANIDM {PHEASANTS). 

 Bill moderate, vaulted, with tip of upper mandible produced ; wings 

 rounded, tail broad, mostly with fourteen or eighteen feathers ; tarsus 



