35 ELEMENTARY ZOOLOGY 



plover are familiar sights. One of the largest birds of 

 this order is the long-billed curlew (Numenius longirostris) 

 of the upland pastures. The bill of the curlew is long 

 and curved downwards. The nests of these shore-birds 

 are made on the ground and are usually little more than 

 shallow depressions in which the few spotted eggs (four 

 is a common number) are laid. The young are precocial. 

 The grouse, quail, pheasants, turkeys, etc. (Gallinse). 

 The Gallinae include most of the domestic fowls, as the 

 hen, turkey, peacock, guinea-fowls, and pheasants, and 

 the grouse, quail, partridges, and wild turkeys. The 

 chief game-birds of most countries belong to this order. 

 They have the bill short, heavy, convex, and bony, 

 adapted for picking up and crushing seeds and grains 

 which compose their principal food. Their legs are strong 

 and usually not long, and are often feathered very low 

 down. The Gallinae are mostly terrestrial in habit and 

 are sometimes known as the Rasores or " scratchers. " 

 Among the more familiar wild gallinaceous birds are the 

 quail or " Bob white " (Colinus virginianus), abundant in 

 eastern and central United States, the ruffed grouse 

 (Bonasa umbellus] of the Eastern woods, and the prairie- 

 chicken (Tympanuchus americanus) of the Western prairies. 

 The sage-hen (Centrocercus urophasianus), the largest of 

 the American grouse, reaching a length of two and one- 

 half feet, is an interesting inhabitant of the sterile sage- 

 brush plains of the West. The ptarmigan (Lagopus) or 

 snow-grouse, represented by several species, are found 

 either among the rocks and snow-banks above timber 

 line on high mountains, or in the Arctic regions. In 

 summer their plumage is brown and white ; in winter they 

 turn pure white to harmonize with the uniform snow- 

 covering. On the Pacific coast are several species of 

 quail, all differing much from those of the East. These 

 Western species have beautiful crests of a few or several 



