194 GALLING 



flocks at a great height above the ground and then suddenly 

 descending to drink. At such times large numbers can easily be 

 shot. Its flight is very powerful and swift, and it also runs quickly, 

 though its legs are very short. When flying it often gives vent to 

 a shrill, sharp cry not unlike that of an English plover, whence the 

 Dutch name Kelkje Wijn (i.e., kelkie vane), which is a near imita- 

 tion of the sound. 



The eggs, two in number, are of a light cream colour, spotted with 

 brown and purple ; they are oblong, measuring 1-50 to 1-30 x I'O, 

 and are laid in a slight hollow on the ground. There are examples 

 in the South African Museum, taken by Major Sparrow on the 

 18th August at Welgevonden, in the Orange Eiver Colony. 



The flesh of this bird is very tough, and it is best eaten skinned 

 and stewed. 



Order XII. GALLING. 



This Order contains the true Game-Birds, such as the Pheasants, 

 Grouse, Turkeys, Brush-Turkeys and Curasows ; they can be easily 

 recognised by their short, arched bills, their strong legs, well adapted 

 to walking, and their rounded, rather feeble wings ; the tarsus is 

 very generally armed, especially among the males, with a strong 

 sharp spur ; the hallux is always present and in all the South 

 African forms is jointed above the level of the other toes ; the wing 

 has ten primaries and the fifth secondary is present. The nest is 

 usually placed on the ground, and the young, when hatched, are 

 covered with down and are able to fly almost at once. 



The more important anatomical characters are as follows : 

 Sixteen cervical vertebrae ; skull schizognathous and holorhinal, 

 basipterygoid processes represented by sessile facets, situated far 

 forward on the sphenoidal rostrum ; sternum with two deep notches 

 on both sides posteriorly ; plantar tendons galline (see Vol. III., 

 p. 2, fig. 2b) ; oil gland nearly always present and generally tufted ; 

 crop present ; caeca large ; two carotids nearly always present ; the 

 five Garrodian thigh muscles present in all the South African 

 species. 



Two suborders are generally recognised : one, the Peristeropodes, 

 containing the Brush-Turkeys (Megapodiidae) and the Curasows 

 (Cracidae) confined to the Australian and Neotropical Kegions 



