168 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



COLUMB^E. 



Bill straight, compressed, horny at vaulted tip, which is separated 

 by a constriction from the soft membranous basal portion; nostrils 

 beneath a soft tumid valve ; legs feathered to tarsus or beyond ; hallux 

 generally incumbent; front toes rarely joined by membrane at base. 



COLUMBID& (PIGEONS}. 



Bill always shorter than head ; there is a long nasal groove, the 

 posterior portion occupied by a cartilaginous scale, covered by a soft 

 cere-like skin ; the nostrils constitute an elongated slit in the lower 

 border of the scale; wing large, lengthened, and pointed, with ten 

 primaries ; tail rounded or wedge-shaped ; tarsus usually short, rarely 

 longer than middle toe, scutellate in front, and with hexagonal plates 

 at sides and behind. 



Columba livia, BOCK DOVE, IY. 113 



Columba cenas, STOCK DOVE, IV. 21 



Columba palumbus, EINGDOVE, I. 65 



Turtur communis (T. auritus, Columba turtur), TURTLE DOVE., IV. 85 



GALLING. 



Bill generally short, stout, convex, with obtuse vaulted tip ; nostrils 

 scaled or feathered ; legs usually feathered to tarsus or beyond, tarsus 

 when not feathered generally broadly scutellate; hallux ordinarily 

 elevated, anterior toes generally joined at base by a membrane, claws 

 blunt, little curved ; wings strong, short, and concavo-convex ; .tail- 

 feathers commonly more than twelve. 



TETRAONIDM (GROUSE). 



Tarsus densely feathered ; nostrils in fossa concealed by feathers ; 

 toes usually naked (feathered to claws in Lagopus), with pectinations 

 of scales along the edges ; tail-feathers sixteen, eighteen, or twenty ; 

 tail rounded, acute, or forked. Some genera with inflatable air-sac in 

 neck. 



Lagopus mutus (Tetrao lagopus, L. vulgaris), PTARMIGAN, II. 89 



Lagopus scoticus (Tetrao scoticus, T. lagopus), COMMON GROUSE, 

 1.49 



Tetrao urogallus, CAPERCAILLIE, III. 33 



PHASIANIDJE (PHEASANTS). 



Bill moderate, vaulted, with tip of upper mandible produced ; wings 

 rounded, tail broad, mostly with fourteen or eighteen feathers; tarsus 



