PH ASIANID^E. CL. 253 



barred and streaked. L. 17. W. 9. T. 4j. 9 smaller. Prairies, 

 etc., Indiana to La. and N. ; nearly exterminated eastward. 



aa . Scapulars with large, conspicuous spots of buffy whitish ; neck tufts in $ 

 of not more than 10 lanceolate feathers. 



795. T. cupido (L.). HEATH HEN. Rather smaller. W. 8. 

 E. U. S., once from Mass, to Va., now extinct except on Martha's 

 Vineyard. (To Cupid, the ruff on the neck likened to Cupid's 

 wings.) 



409. PEDICBCETES Baird. (TreStoi/, plain ; oijeqrqff, inhabitant.) 



796. P. phasianellus (L.). SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. Streaked 

 and spotted, yellowish brown, black, and white ; sexes alike. L. 18. 

 W. 8f . T. 5. Arctic Amer., S. to N. 111. ; the S. E. form with 

 rusty grayish predominating, is var. campestris Ridgway. (Lat. 

 phasianus, pheasant.) 



FAMILY CL. PHASIANID^E. (THE PHEASANTS.) 



The chief family of the Gallince, differing as a whole from the 

 Tetraonidce in having the tarsus in the $ armed with a spur. In 

 many species the head is naked, in others the tail is long and 

 vaulted, or otherwise peculiar. Genera 18 ; species 90; nearly all 

 of the Old World, some of them among the most remarkable of 

 birds in form and coloration. The two species of Meleagrince are 

 American. 



a. Head and neck unfeathered, with scattered hairs, and with caruncles ; 

 forehead with a fleshy process; tail long, broad, truncate ; plumage 

 metallic ; breast in cf with a tuft of bristles. (Meleagrince.) 



MELEAGKIS, 410. 



410. MELEAGRIS Linnasus. (/xeXectypi'y, guinea-hen.) 



797. M. gallopavo L. WILD TURKEY. 1 Glossy, coppery 

 "black. L. 48. W. 21. T. 18J. 9 smaller, duller. "Ontario to 

 Rocky Mountains, S. to Mexico, becoming extinct eastward. The 

 domestic Turkey is descended from a Mexican variety (var. 

 mexicana Gould). (Lat., gallus, cock ; pavo, pea-fowl.) 



ORDER XL. COLTJMB^E. (THE DOVES.) 



Bill straight, compressed, the horny tip separated by a constric- 

 tion from the soft part. Nostrils opening beneath a soft, tumid 

 membrane or cere, at base of bill. Frontal feathers sweeping in 

 a strongly convex outline across base of upper mandible ; tomiaB 

 meeting. Hind toe on a level with the rest (except in Starncenas, 



1 The account of the habits of the Turkey given by Linnaeus is worth quoting : 

 "Mas exrestuat inflato pectore, expansa cauda, sanguinea facie, relaxata frontis 

 caruncula ; irse ten ax ; sapid a caro." 



