ANDALUSIAN HEMIPODE. 



HEM IP ODD. 



131 



TURNICIDJ2. 



TUENIX STLVATICA (Desfontaines*). 

 THE ANDALUSIAN HEMIPODE. 



Hemipodius tachydromus. 



TURNIX, Bonnaterre\. Beak moderate, slender, very compressed ; culmen 

 elevated and curved towards tbe point. Nostrils lateral, linear, longitudinally 

 cleft, partly closed by a membrane. Tarsus rather long. Toes three before, 

 entirely divided; no posterior toe. Tail composed of weak yielding feathers 

 clustered together, and concealed by the feathers of the back. Wings moderate, 

 the first and second quill-feathers nearly equal, and the longest. 



THE term Hemipodius, signifying Half-foot, was applied 

 generically by M. Temminck, in 1815, to several species of 

 quail-like birds, but with three toes only, which, from their 

 very diminutive size were considered the pigmies among the 

 Gallinaceous birds: an order in which they have generally been 

 placed. After the light thrown upon their anatomy by the 



* Tetrao sylvaticus, Desfontaines, Mem. de 1'Acad. Roy. des Sc., 1787, p. 500, 

 pi. xiii. 



f Tableau Encycl. et Method., i. p. 5 (1790). 



