214 



GENUS GEOPHILUS, SELBY. 



IN their form and habits they approach still nearer 

 to the typical Gallinaceous Birds than the species 

 we have just been describing. Their tarsi are long 

 and covered with hexagonal scales ; their tail short 

 and rather pendant, their wings concave, short, and 

 rounded, and their body, as compared with the 

 typical pigeons, thick and heavy. A striking de- 

 parture from the general economy of the Colum- 

 bidee is further observed in their mode of pro- 

 pagation, the number of the eggs they lay each 

 hatching not being confined to two, as is seen to 

 prevail in the groups already described, but extend- 

 ing to eight or ten, which are incubated upon the 

 ground, and the young, like those of the true Galli- 

 naceous Birds, are produced from the egg in such a 

 state as to be able immediately to follow the parent, 

 which broods over and attends them like the part- 

 ridge or domestic fowl. They live entirely upon the 

 ground, except during the hours of repose, when 

 they sometimes retire to bushes or the low branches 

 of trees. They walk and run with great quickness 

 like the Gallinse, and in fact appear to be the forms 

 which immediately connect this family with the Pa- 



