INTRODUCTION. 



"T^HE great division of the Class Aves called Galling, 

 * sometimes designated Rasores {Latin rasor, a 

 scraper), from the habit possessed by its members 

 of scratching the ground in search of food, is 

 composed of two suborders and four families. Of 

 tlic latter we have to do at the present time with 

 only two — Tetraonid/E and Fuasianiu/E, contain- 

 ing th >se species which have fozvl-fcct, in contradistinc- 

 tion to the other two families — Megapodid^ and 

 Cracii)^, which have feet like a pigeon. 



These four families comprise between three and four 

 hundred species, distributed throughout the world, and 

 are of the very highest importance in their relation to 

 man, affording food to multitudes of people, and the 

 members of the Phasianid/E are the sources of all the 

 domesticated poultry found in the world to-day. 



In form the birds are usually heavy in body with 

 rather stout legs and feet, small heads and curved bills, 

 with the nostrils placed in a membrane covered by a 

 scale, and the wings are short and rounded. In some 

 subfamilies the males, and occasionally the females, 

 have the legs armed with spurs, and certain species have 

 several spurs at a time upon each leg. The sternum, or 

 breastbone, has a double bifurcation on each side, the 

 fissures wide and deep, and provides but little space for 

 the attachment of the great pectoral muscles, which how- 

 ever are well developed, and give the plump appearance 

 to the breast so characteristic of these birds. The tail is 

 of various shapes, and in the Phasianid^ is sometimes 



35 



'.3 









T 



XIII 



