RASORKS. PHASJAMDJE. 415 



FAMILY II. PHASIANHXE. VIGORS. 



THE members of this natural and well-marked family are 

 birds of a bulky and heavy form ; their bodies abounding in 

 muscular fibre, remarkable for its sweetness and excellent 

 quality as food. Their short and concave wings, as well as 

 other peculiarities of anatomical structure, render them unfit 

 for distant or long-continued flight ; but their strong limbs 

 are perfectly adapted for speed, or continued exertion on foot. 

 Their principal food consists of grain and seeds ; but, in ad- 

 dition to these, some few eat roots, berries, or the buds of 

 trees ; and most of them devour insects. In the whole fa- 

 mily the food undergoes maceration in the craw, previous to 

 its entering the stomach or gizzard, which is, in this and the 

 succeeding family, a receptacle possessing great muscular 

 grinding power. Some members of the different genera that 

 this group comprises, are polygamous ; others pair regularly 

 every year. Their nest is placed on the ground, amidst the 

 herbage, and formed without much art. Their eggs are nu- 

 merous, and the young, when first excluded, are covered 

 with a soft down, and are immediately able to follow their 

 parents, and to feed themselves. They scratch the earth 

 with their feet in search of food ; and are all addicted to the 

 peculiar habit of rolling in dust, and working it into their 

 feathers. 



It is from this family that we have obtained our highly- 

 prized domestic poultry, and all its varieties, together with 

 the Peacock and Turkey ; but we only possess one member 

 in a natural or wild state, viz. the Common Pheasant (Pha- 

 slanus colchicus.) 



