62 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Superfamily PHASIANOIDEA: Grouse, Pheasants, Turkeys 



>Gallinaceae Nitzsch, in Meckel, Deutsch. Arch. Phys., 1820, 258 (includes 



Otididae!). 

 =Alectoropodes Ocslvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, xi, 33.— Salvin 



and GoDMAN, Biol. Centr.-Amer. Aves, iii, 1902, 283.— Knowlton, Birds of 



the World, 1909, 267, in text. 

 >Alectoromorphae Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, 459 (includes Turni- 



cidae, Pteroclidae, Megapodidae, Cracidae, and Phasianidae). 

 =Gallinae Alectoropodes Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, vii, 137. — 



Eluot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 198, in text. 

 =(5allinae Cope, Amer. Nat., xxiii, 1889, 871, 873. 

 =Phasiatii American Ornithologists' Union, Check-list, 1886, 167; ed. 3, 1910, 



134.— Sharpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif . Birds, 1891, 68 ; Hand-list, i, 1899, x, 18. 

 <Phasianida2 Elliot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 213, in text (excludes Tetraonidae, 



Odontophorinae, and Old World partridges and quails). — Grant, Cat. Birds 



Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, xi, 33, 94 (excludes Tetraonidae). 

 <Phasianinae Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, 95 (excludes 



Tetraonidae, Odontophorinae, and Old World partridges and quails). 

 ==PhasianidK Knowlton, Birds of the World, 1909, 49, 276. 

 =Gallidae Gadow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 34. 



=Phasianides Wetmore, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, art. 24, 1930, 3. 

 ^Phasianoida American Ornithologists' Union, Check-list, ed. 4, 1931', 78. — 



Wetmore, Smiths. Misc. Coll., Ixxxix, No. 13, 1934, 6; xcix. No. 7, 1940, 6.— 



Peters, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 1934, 24. 



Galliform birds with the hallux elevated and relatively small, with basal 

 phalanx shorter than that of third toe ; inner notch of sternum very deep, 

 more than half as long as sternum ; outer division of the long and narrow 

 posterior lateral process of sternum slightly expanded on outer side only, 

 and costal process elongated, nearly parallel to long axis of sternum. 



Palate schizognathous ; nares holorhinal ; basipterygoid processes articu- 

 lating with pterygoids as far as possible from quadrate ; episternal process 

 perforated to receive feet of coracoids; oil gland tufted. 



KEY TO THE AMERICAN (NATIVE AND NATURALIZED) FAMILIES AND 

 SUBFAMILIES OF PHASIANOIDEA 



a. Head and at least upper neck naked, the former usually with a bony, erect, 

 vertical helmet or bristly or curly crest, or with an occipital feathered patch 

 or band; tail relatively small, drooping (decumbent), not erectile (?), mostly 

 hidden by coverts, the very full plumage of rump presenting a strongly arched 

 outline ; second metacarpal without backward process ; costal processes out- 

 wardly inclined Numididae (p. 430) 



aa. Head and neck not naked (except in Meleagrididae) , without a bony vertical 

 helmet or (except very rarely) a bristly or curly crest or occipital patch or 

 band; tail extremely variable but never (?) decumbent, always erectile, usu- 

 ally very distinct from coverts, the plumage of rump not presenting a strongly 

 arched outline; second metacarpal with backward processes; costal processes 

 not outwardly inclined. 

 b. Head and upper neck naked and more or less wattled or wrinkled, forehead 

 with a fleshy tubercle or cylindrical appendage, capable of great enlargement 

 in males ; contour feathers truncate ; postacetabulum longer than preacetabu- 



