GALL I NACEOUS BIRDS. 77 



incubation of the eggs, the number of which is generally con- 

 siderable. So soon as the young ones escape from the shell, they 

 walk, eat alone, and abandon the nest to follow their mother. 

 They remain together forming a family until the following spring, 

 when they separate. The sexes differ very much from each 

 other in their plumage, at least, until they have attained an 

 advanced age, when the female sometimes appears in the plumage 

 of the male, which is more brilliant ; they also differ in size, the 

 female, in most species being smallest. 



8. The principal genera composing this family may be recog- 

 nised by the following characters: 



('allinaceae 

 properly so called, having a tail 



6. What are the principal genera of the Family of Gallinaccce proper!? 

 o called '\ 



