230 GALLING, GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



OalUiuB, resembling the sand-grouse and tinamous in some respects, and related to 

 the plovers in others. A singular circumstance is a lack of the extensive vertebral 

 aneh3doses usual in birds, all the vertebrae remaining distinct {Parker). The crop 

 is said to be wanting in some, as is also the hind toe. There are some twenty 

 current species of the principal genus, Timu'x, to which Grajr adds the African 

 Ortyxelos meiffrenii, and the Australian Pedionomus torquatus; the latter is placed, 

 by some, with the Grallce. 



4. Tlie sand-grouse, Pterodldm, inosculate with the pigeons, as the Turnicidce 

 do with the plovers. The digestive system is fowl-like ; the sternum in Pterodes 

 departs from the rasorial type to approach the columbine, the modification being 

 eveu more marlvcd than in the next family ; the pterylosis is pigeon-like, lacking 

 aftershafts (Ilnxleij), or having small ones (NitzscJi). The wings are very long and 

 pointed, the feet short, with reduced hallux, and variable feathering. Confined to 

 Europe, Asia and Africa : the principal genus, Pterodes, has about a dozen species ; 

 the onlj' other, Syrrhajjtes, has two. 



5. The mound-birds, Megapodidce, as the name implies, have large feet, with 

 little curved claws, and lengthened insistent hallux. They share this last feature 

 with the CracidcB (beyond) ; and the osseous structure of these two families, except 

 as regards pneuraaticitj', is strikingly similar. Both show a modification of the 

 sternum, the inner one of the two notches being less instead of more tlian half as 

 deep as the sternum is long, as in typical GalUnce. Confined to Australia and the 

 East Indies ; Megapodius is the principal genus, of a dozen or more species ; there 

 are three others, each of a species or two. 



G. The gninea-fowl, Numididce, of which a species, JSTwmida meleagris, is com- 

 monly seen in domestication, are an African and Madagascan type. While the 

 foregoing families are strongly specialized, tliis one, like the tnrkej' family, more 

 closeljr approaches the true fowl, and both may be only subfamilies of PJiasianidm. 

 The bones of the pinion have a certain peculiarity ; the frontal generally develops 

 a protuberance ; there are wattles, but no spurs ; the tail is very short ; the head 

 naked. There are six or eight species of JSfumida, in some of which the trachea is 

 convoluted in an appendage to the furcula ; Acryllium vulturina, Agelastes melea- 

 grides and Pliasidus niger, are the remaining ones. 



7. Finally, we reach the Phasianida;, or pheasants, a magnificent family of 

 t3'pical Gallince, of which the domestic fowl is a characteristic example. These 

 birds do not show any of the foregoing special characters ; the feet, nasal fossa?, 

 and usually a part, if not the whole, of the head, are naked ; the tarsi commonly 

 develop spurs; the hallux. is elevated; the tail, with or without its coverts, some- 

 times has .an extraordinary development or a remarkable sli.ape. There are fifty or 

 sixtjr species, distributed in numerous modern genera, about twelve of which are 

 well marked ; they are all indigenous to Asia and neighboring islands, focussing in 

 India. In' tlie peacock, Pavo cristatus, the tail coverts form a superb train, capable 

 of erection into a disk, the most gorgeous object in ornithology ; in an allied genus, 

 Polypledron, there are a pair of spurs on each leg. The argus pheasant, Arguaanus 

 giganteus, is distinguished by the enormous development of the secondary quills, as 

 well as by the length of the tail feathers and peculiarity of the middle pair. The 

 combed, wattled and spurred barn-yard fowl, with folded tail and flowing middle 

 feathers, are descendants of G'ullus banJiiva, tj'pe of a small genus. The trago- 

 pans, Cereornis, are an allied form with few species ; the macartney's, Eiiplocomus, 

 with a dozen species, are another near form, as are the impoyans, Lophoplioras, 



