230 



AVES. 



Others, 



The Attagens {Syrrhaptes, lUiger), — 

 Are so far removed from the general type of the Poultry, that it is even doubtful whether they should 

 range in the present order. [They appear to be nearly related to the Gangas.] Their short tarsi are 

 feathered, as are also the toes, which are short, and joined together for a part of their length ; the 

 wings being extremely long and pointed. 



But one species is known, from the deserts of central Asia [and very rarely eastern Europe,] (T. paradoxus, 

 Pallas), the Heterocbjte of Temminck. 



We are equally necessitated to separate from the Grouse 



The Tinamous {Tinamus, Latham ; Crypturus, Illiger), — 

 An American genus, remarkable for a long and slender neck, (although the tarsi are short,) covered with 

 feathers, the tips of the barbs of which are slender and slightly curled, which imparts a peculiar air to 

 that part of their plumage. The beak is long, slender, and blunt at the end ; somewhat vaulted, with 

 a small groove at each side : the nostrils are pierced in the middle of each side, and penetrate obliquely 

 backwards. Their wings are short, and they have scarcely any tail. The membrane between the base 

 of their toes is very short. Their thumb, reduced to a spur, cannot touch the ground. They have a 



small naked space round the eye. These birds either perch 

 on low branches, or conceal themselves in tall grass ; they 

 live on fruits and insects, and their flesh is very good. Their 

 size varies from that of a Pheasant down to that of a Quail, 

 or even still smaller. [Eggs of a deep purple colour.] 



.Some of them (the Pezus of Spix), have a small tail concealed 

 under the feathers of the rump. Others (the Tinamus of Spix) have 

 no tail at all, and the nostrils are placed a little further backward. 



We should distinguish the Rhynchotis of Spix, wherein the beak, 

 which is stronger, has no groove, and is a little arcuated and de- 

 pressed, with the nostrils pierced towards the base. 



The Pigeons {Columba, Lin.) — 

 May be considered as forming some passage from the 

 Gallinee to the Passerince. As in the former, their 

 beak is vaulted, the nostrils are pierced in a large mem- 

 branous space, and covered with a cartilaginous scale, 

 which even forms a bulge at the base of the beak : the 

 bony sternum (fig. Ill) is deeply and doubly emarginated, although somewhat differently [the 

 inner notch being mostly reduced to a foramen ; the ridge of the 

 sternum deep, and rounded off anteriorly (much as in the Par- 

 rots) ; and the furcula flat and destitute of any appendage]. The 

 crop (fig. 70, p. 160) is extremely large [and double, or expanding 

 on each side of the oesophagus, in which it differs from that of 

 any other bird; it also secretes a lacteal substance, as in the 

 Parrots, during the period of incubation. The gizzard is power- 

 fully muscular ; the intestines very long and slender, with minute 

 cceca; and there is no gall bladder]. The inferior larynx is fur- 

 nished with but one muscle proper — [we have invariably foimd 

 two pairs] ; but there is no other membrane between the base of 

 the toes than that which residts from the continuity of the edges. 

 The tail consists of twelve feathers, and they fly tolerably well. 

 These birds are invariably monogamous, nestle in trees or the 

 holes of rocks, and lay but very few eggs, ordinarily two, though 

 they breed often. Both sexes incubate, and tliey feed their young 

 by chsgorging grain macerated in the crop. They form but one 



great genus, which naturalists have attempted to divide into tliree *'^' "'-S'""""' "' "£«• 



subgenera, from tlu; greater or less strength of the bill, and the [)roportions of the feet. 



Fig., no.— Si 



