4 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



called the gape, to the tip). The neck is long and 

 the body stout and heavy ; the wings are short, 

 concave, and rounded, the pinion-quills or flight- 

 feathefs not projecting noticeably in repose in 

 any species ; the legs are powerful, the shanks stout 

 and generally covered in front with a double row of 

 large scales meeting in a zig-zig seam ; the toes 

 are four in number, three spreading ones m front, 

 united at the base by a short web, and a much 

 smaller one behind, set on at a higher level than 

 the rest. The tail varies very much ; in the fowl 

 and many other species it is vertically folded in 

 repose, but it is often flat like any ordinary bird's. 



Internally, the birds of this family are note- 

 worthy for their large crop or food-receptacle in 

 the gullet, and powerful gizzard or grinding- 

 stomach ; their breast-bone is also remarkable, 

 being so deeply cut into at each side by two great 

 notches that hardly any of the body of the bone 

 is left, and it presents, when cleaned, the appear- 

 ance of a narrow central portion bearing the deep 

 keel, and a somewhat V-shaped projection on each 

 side. 



The Phasianidce are as uniform in their habits 

 as in their structure, the common fowl bemg a 

 fair type of all. They are, however, not all poly- 

 gamous like him, nor do they all roost on a perch 

 in the same way. Neither are all of them pro- 

 vided with spurs — a weapon, by the way, confined 

 to this family. But all feed on almost anything 

 they can get — seeds, green-food or small animal 

 life ; all trust to their legs before their wings, and 

 fly violently rather than strongly, generally with 

 alternate flappings and sailings ; and all rigor- 

 ously avoid bathing, choosing instead to roll in 



