72 BIRDS' NESTS 



abnormal migrants, but have even nested, or 

 attempted to nest, in that area. 



Another important assemblage of crude nest- 

 builders is the Game Birds or Galliformes, numbering 

 about four hundred species and races. Some of the 

 more aberrant species, however, differ very remarkably 

 from the ordinary type in the matter of their architec- 

 ture. These are the Megapodes {conf. p. 126), the 

 Curassows, Guans, and allied forms, and the Hoatzin, 

 the nesting arrangements of which will be dealt with 

 elsewhere {conf. p. 139). The nests of the typical 

 Game Birds are all constructed on much the same 

 crude and simple plan, although some are more 

 elaborate than others. Normally, with the few ex- 

 ceptions just indicated, the nests of these birds are 

 made upon the ground. Of course many instances 

 have been placed on record of such species as 

 Pheasants and Partridges making their nests on hay- 

 stacks and other equally abnormal places, but such 

 are quite exceptional, and may be disregarded in a 

 scientific review of the architecture of the Galli- 

 formes. It would be difficult to find in any other 

 group of species containing such a great diversity of 

 forms a more uniform style of architecture. Indeed 

 the general description of one nest will apply almost 

 in detail to the whole four hundred species. This 

 consists of a hollow scraped out in the ground and 

 lined with dry grass, dead leaves, and other vegetable 

 refuse. As a rule the crude nest is placed under the 



