TINAMID&. 593 



Ortyx which Caccabis does to Perdix, i. e. in its mode of colora- 

 tion; and the similarity of color of Lophortyx to Excalfactoria has 

 been already alluded to. 



The Guinea-fowls of Africa may either form a separate sub- 

 family of the Tetraonidce, or be considered a distinct family 

 as they are by Bonaparte. They are birds of large size, with 

 short tails of fourteen or sixteen feathers, grey spotted plu- 

 mage, and with the skin of the head usually devoid of feathers, 

 in other cases plumed, and the head is furnished in some with a 

 bony casque, in others with a crest of feathers. The tarsus is 

 not spurred. They are noisy and gregarious. Blyth considers 

 them ' a most thorough Partridge genus' ; I think them sufficiently 

 distinct in appearance, habits, and their limited African distribu- 

 tion, to form a separate family. Bonaparte places the Guinea fowls 

 near the Turkeys, in a separate group, (Cohort Craces), along 

 with the CracidcB, thus considering them removed both from the 

 Pheasants (Cohort Galli), and the Partridges (Cohort Perdices). 

 Several species are known, one of them N. vulturina having the 

 feathers of the neck and breast hackled and lanceolate. Among 

 the Guinea fowls should be placed Agelastes meleagrides. 



Fam. TinamidjE. 



Bill moderate, slender, straight, or slightly curved at the tip ; 

 wings moderate or short ; tail short, occasionally none, the upper 

 tail-coverts lengthened and concealing the tail in many ; tarsi 

 unarmed ; lateral toes short, hallux small and elevated, or wanting 

 altogether ; claws short and blunt. 



The birds of this family, mostly peculiar to the new continent, 

 and especially to South America, are represented in the old world 

 and Australia by two or three genera, which have, by most systema- 

 tists, been usually placed among the Quails, and were located by 

 Cuvier next Syrrhaptes, from the absence of the hind toe in both. 

 Blyth first, I believe, referred these birds to the present family. 



The Tinamidcs differ remarkably from other Gallinacece in the 

 structure of their sternum, the inner emargination being very 

 deep, but the outer one wanting, or rather the outermost projection 

 of bone bounding it disappears altogether, leaving the sternum 



PART II. 4 F 



