Xo. 483] 



MATING AMONG BIRDS 



167 



Monogamous matings seem to be the rule with all the cranes 

 and rails, with their allies, near and remote.^ 



Probably no group of birds in the world's entire avifauna have 

 l)een more closely studied or had more w-ritteii about thcni than 

 the great gallinaceous group of fowls, includino' aiiionu' ilicin not 

 a few other such familiar birds as the turkeys, the uunica fowls, 

 quails, partridges, grouse, pheasants, and their various allies, 

 near and remote. Good and sufficient reasons there are for this, 

 as a very large number of them are, and have been, long domes- 

 ticated, as the chickens and turkeys. All of them constitute 

 game in every part of the world; while many of them are kept 

 in zoological gardens and private preserves, as the j)heasants 

 and others. None of the (Jalliformes, I believe, are polyandrous, 

 though many of the families are curiously divided up between 

 polygamy and monogamy, some being strong adherents of the 

 first-named ])ractice, while others, under no circumstances, depart 



