318 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



to the earth, and some are utterly incapable of rising 

 into the air at all. Like the hoofed tribes of the 

 Mammalia, to which the Gallinaceae are usually 

 considered as corresponding in their own Class, they 

 comprise those species which are chiefly ordained 

 to be the food of man; hence their flesh is more 

 agreeable, digestible, and nutritive ; their increase 

 is great, and their domestication easy. Their ex- 

 cellence as food has an evident connexion with their 

 feebleness of flight ; for, as the muscular force of 

 the whole body in the powerful fliers is concen- 

 trated in that action, the texture of the muscles 

 is strong and sinewy, and they are proportionably 

 indigestible and dry. The use of wings in the 

 Poultry-birds is scarcely more than to enable them 

 to reach an elevated roosting-place ; when they at- 

 tempt to fly, their motion is fluttering, painful, and 

 exhausting, frequently accompanied by screams 

 which shew that they are in a state of unnatural 

 excitement. Their food generally consists of the 

 seeds of herbaceous plants, which they can reach 

 on foot ; they frequently, however, scratch the earth 

 with their claws, in order to discover seeds, insects, 

 and worms, beneath the surface. The males of many 

 of the species are ornamented with peculiarly re- 

 splendent plumage, as well as other remarkable ap- 

 pendages ; and their gait, especially in the presence 

 of the females, is proud and stately. Most of them 

 are polygamous, one male being attended by many 

 wives. The largest of all birds are found in this 

 Order : they are also the most inoffensive. 



