GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 43 



Sometimes these feathers descend only as far as the 

 toes, but in the ptarmigan (Lagopus harefoot) the 

 whole foot is thickly covered with dense hairlike feath- 

 ers, which serve to protect it from cold and no doubt 

 to some extent facilitate progression over soft snow. In 

 the grouse, too, the toes are pectinated provided with 

 a horny comblike structure on either side, and these 

 are the only members of the group that are so pro- 

 vided. In some species, if not in all, these pectinations 

 are deciduous. Spurs with a bony core and a horny 

 sheath, thus resembling the horn of a cow such as we 

 see in the turkey and the male of the domestic fowl - 

 are common to all the male pheasants. In some species 

 there are two or more spurs on each foot and in some, 

 spurs are present in the female. They are not found 

 in the grouse or the partridges. 



In the grouse family a little tuft of projecting feath- 

 ers runs forward on each side of the bill and covers the 

 nostrils. In the partridges the nostril is naked, but is 

 protected by a scale which overhangs it. 



In the gallinaceous birds the plumage is as varied 

 as it is possible to conceive, ranging from the most bril- 

 liant metallic sheens of all hues in some of the pheas- 

 ants, to the plainest, dullest clay color in some par- 

 tridges and grouse, as the sage grouse, or the white- 

 tailed ptarmigan in summer plumage. Many of the 

 American quails are singularly beautiful birds, but 

 less by the brilliancy of their colors than by the fine con- 

 trasts or harmonies which their plumage exhibits. Of 

 all these birds in America, however, only the gorgeous 



