

350 SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY 



Many of the grouse have special popular names, such as ptar- 

 migan, the prairie hens or prairie chickens, the sage cock, and 

 the ruffled grouse. The most important family of the Gallinae, 

 and the one which contains some of the most brilliantly colored 

 birds in existence, is the Phasianidae, comprising the Guinea 

 fowls, the jungle fowls, and all the pheasants, such as the blood 

 pheasants, the firebacks, the silver pheasants, and the golden 

 pheasants ; they are all essentially Asiatic birds. The turkeys 

 are American birds (Fig. 345); one species is found in North 

 America, one in Mexico, and one in Central America ; they 

 have brilliant metallic colors. Many of the most brilliant of 

 the Asiatic pheasants have no common names in English, but 

 the argus pheasant and the peacock pheasant are familiar. To 

 this same family belongs our common domestic peacock, Pavo 

 cristatus, which is a native of India. All our varieties of do- 

 mestic fowls have descended from the jungle fowl of Asia and 

 the West Indies. 



Suborder 4. Grallae 



The Grallae (Lat. gralla, stilt) are long-legged wading birds, 

 usually without webbed feet. They include the bustards, the 

 cranes, and the rails. 



Suborder 5. Gaviae 



The Gaviae (Lat. gavia, a sea bird) are web-footed swimming 

 birds, and most of them are good flyers as well. The loons, 

 auks (Fig. 346), and puffins are confined to the northern hemi- 

 sphere and prefer the colder waters of the North ; thev never 

 enter the tropics. The great auk, A lea impemris, had very 

 small wings and was incapable of flight ; it inhabited both sides 

 of the temperate portion of the Atlantic until 1844. when the last 

 individuals were killed by man and the species became extinct. 

 The gulls and terns likewise belong to this suborder and are 

 scattered over the whole world. 



Suborder 6. Limicolae 



The Limicolae (Lat. limns, mud, and colere, to inhabit) are 

 sometimes included in the same group with the Gralla?; like 

 them they are wading birds without webbed feet. They include 



