GRALLATORJ.. 143 



peculiar air to that part of their plumage. The beak is long, slender, and 

 blunt at the end ; somewhat arched, with a little groove on each side ; the 

 nostrils are pierced in the middle of each side, and penetrate obliquely back- 

 wards. Their wings are short, and they have scarcely any tail. The mem- 

 brane between the base of the toes is very short. Their thumb, reduced to a 

 spur, cannot reach the ground. The circumference of the eye is partly naked. 

 They either perch on low branches of trees, or hide among tall grass ; they 

 feed on fruits and insects, and their flesh is good. Their size varies from 

 that of the pheasant down to that of the quail ; some of them are even still 

 smaller. 



COLUMBA, LinncBUs. 



The Pigeons may be considered as forming a slight transition from the 

 Gallinaceae to the Passerinse. Like the former, their beak is vaulted, the 

 nostrils perforated in a broad membraneous space, and covered with a carti- 

 laginous scale, which even forms a bulge at the base of the bill ; the bony 

 sternum is deeply and doubly emarginated, although somewhat differently ; 

 the crop extremely dilated, and the lower larynx furnished with but a single 

 proper muscle ; but there is no other membrane between the base of their toes 

 than that which results from the continuity of the edges. Their tail is com- 

 posed of twelve quills. They fly well, live in a state of monogamy, build on 

 trees or in fissures among rocks, and lay but few eggs at a time, generally two; 

 it is true they lay frequently. The male assists his mate in the business of 

 brooding. They nourish their young by disgorging macerated grain into 

 their crop. They form but one genus, which naturalists have attempted to 

 divide into several subgenera, from the greater or less strength of the bill and 

 the proportions of the feet. 



ORDER V. 



GRALLATORI^:. 



GRALL^E, Linnceus. 



THE birds of this order derive their name from their habits, and from the 

 conformation which causes them. They are known 

 by the nudity of the lower part of their legs, and 

 most generally by the height of their tarsi ; two 

 circumstances which enable them to enter the water 

 to a certain depth without wetting their feathers ; to 

 wade through it and seize fish by means of their 

 neck and bill, the length of which is usually pro- 

 portioned to that of the legs. Those which are fur- 

 nished with a strong bill feed on fish and reptiles, 

 while such as have a weak one consume worms and 

 insects. A very few feed partially on grain, and 

 they alone live at a distance from rivers, &c. The external toe is most com- 

 monly united at its base with that of the middle one, by means of a short 



