222 



ZOOLOGY. 



its whole length, the tip knobbed. It is 30 cm. (11 to 

 12 inches) long, and frequents bogs, swamps, wet woodlands 

 and fields in the eastern United States and Canada. 



Connecting in some degree the waders and gallinaceous 

 fowl are the bustards of the Old World, certain strange ex- 

 otic birds; especially the horned screamers, represented by a 

 very rare bird, the Palamedea comuta, which has sharp 

 horns on the wings. 



Order 6. Gallince (Gallinaceous birds). — The appearance 



Fig. 263.— Stilt. 



of these birds, formerly called Easores, from their peculiar 

 habit of scratching the ground for food, is readily recalled 

 by a simple enumeration of the partridge, Oreortyx (0. 

 pictus, Fig. 264), quail (Ortyx), ptarmigan (Lagopus,Yig. 

 265), pinnated grouse or prairie hen (Cupidonia cupido), 

 sage-cock, Canada grouse or spruce partridge (Tetrao), and 

 wild turkey {Meleagris), as well as the exotic forms, the 

 pheasant of the Old World, the useful hen or barn-yard 

 fowl, which is a descendant of the jungle fowl (Galhir 

 Bankiva) of India. These are allied to the argus-pheasant 

 and the peacock of Malaysia, the latter rivalling the hum- 



