218 ANIMAL FORMS 
upon which they live. The legs and feet are stout, and 
fitted for scratching or for running through grass and 
underbrush. Protective colors also prevent detection, but 
if close pressed they rise into the air with a rapid whirring 
of their stubby wings, and after a short flight settle to the 
ground again. During the breeding-season the male usu- 
ally mates with a number of hens, which build rough nests 
in hollows in the ground, where they lay several eggs. The 
young are precocial. 
The quail or bob-white (Colinus virginianus) and the 
ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) occur throughout the 
Eastern States. Over the same area the wild turkey 
(Meleagris gallopavo) once extended, but is now almost 
extinct. The prairies of the middle West support the 
prairie-hen (Tympanuchus americanus), and the valleys 
and mountains of the far West are the home of several 
species of quails, some of which are beautifully crested. 
205. Pigeons and doves (Columbe).—The pigeons and 
doves belong to a small yet well-defined order, with upward 
of a dozen representatives in the United States. They are 
of medium size, with small head, short neck and legs, and 
among other distinguishing characters frequently possess a 
swollen, fleshy pad in which the nostrils are placed. In 
former years the passenger-pigeon (Hctopistes migratorius), 
inhabiting eastern North America, was probably the most 
common species in this country. Their flocks contained 
thousands, at times millions, of individuals, which often 
traveled hundreds of miles a day in search of food, to return 
at night to definite roosts—a trait which enabled the hunter 
to practically exterminate them. At present the mourning- 
or turtle-dove (Zenaidura macroura) is the most familiar 
and wide-spread of the wild forms. The domestic pigeons 
are all descendants of the common rock-dove (Columba 
“ivia) of Europe, the numerous varieties such as the tum- 
blers, fantails, pouters, etc., being the product of man’s 
careful selection. In the construction of the nest, usually 
