394 



GAME-BIRDS. 



down, or well-feathered in the case of the megapodes, and able to run soon after 

 they are hatched. The nesting-habits vary, the grouse, partridges, and pheasants 

 habitually laying their eggs on the ground with little or no nest, while the curassows 

 generally build in trees, and the megapodes place their eggs among sand and 

 vegetable remains, where they are hatched by the warmth of the decaying matter 

 and the heat of the sun. In the true game-birds the eggs, if spotted at all, are 

 only marked with surface-spots, which are easily scratched off, and never possess 

 the deep, underlying marks characteristic of the eggs of the sand-grouse and rails. 



Grouse and Ptarmigan. 



Family Tetraonid^. 



The grouse form a group of about thirty species, in which the feathering of 

 the legs and feet varies in the different genera ; the ptarmigan and its allies 



PTARMIGAN IN WINTER DRESS {\ nat size). 



having the legs and feet entirely covered with feathers, while in others, such as 

 the blackcock, the toes are naked, and only the legs feathered ; and in the hazel- 

 hen group not only the feet but the greater part of the metatarsi are naked. Those 

 with naked feet may be distinguished from the pheasant-group by the horny 



