212 
POPULAR HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
spurs ; the wings are short and rounded^ and not capable of 
long-sustained flight ; the tail consists of eighteen feathers, 
generally well developed and often vaulted beneath, folding 
as it were upon itself; the tail-covers are often greatly 
lengthened, as may be strikingly seen in the Peacock. The 
males are generally much larger than the females and more 
brilliantly plumed ; both sexes are also generally more or 
less wattled about the head. Most of the species of this 
family are natives of Asia, where they seem to abound. The 
Guinea Fowls {Numida), as their name implies, are natives 
of Africa; while the two species of Turkey are found exclu- 
sively wild in America. . The species of Folyj^lectron (Plate 
XVI. fig. 2), which have two or three spurs on each leg, 
are natives of Asia and its islands. 
The birds of this family form excellent food, their flesh 
being more delicate than that of any quadruped. Many of 
the birds live with man in a state of domestication ; and all 
of them seem capable of being adapted to ornament his 
grounds, and to supply him with eggs and a delicate change 
of food. The crow of one of these birds is, in most parts of 
the world, the sign to man of the approach of day ; 
While the cock, with lively din, 
Scatters the rear of darkness thin." 
