226 
AVES. 
however, are not prolonged. It also resembles the Peafowl in the brilliancy of the colours of the 
with stout spurs. [The upper mandible very much overhangs the under one, as observable in a less 
degree in the Pheasants generally, enabling this bird to root up bulbs with facility.] 
We know but one species, from the mountains of the north of India, the Resplendent Impeyan (L. refulgens, 
Tern. ; Phasianus Impeyanus, Lath.). Size of a [small] Turkey, and black ; the crest and dorsal plumage of 
changeable colours, reflecting tints of gold, copper, sapphire and emerald : tail-feathers chestnut-rufous, [and the 
rump white]. The female and young are brown, dashed with grey and fulvous. 
The Turkeys {MeleagriSy Lin.) — 
Have the head and upper part of the neck invested with a naked, mammellated skin ; an appendage 
under the throat, and another conical one on the forehead, which becomes inflated and prolonged when 
the bird is excited by passion, when it hangs over the beak. On the lower part of the neck in front, 
the adult male has a tuft of very long pendent bristles ; the coverts of the tail, shorter and more stiff 
than in the Peafowl, can be expanded in like manner into a fan. The males have weak spurs, [and are 
the only American Poultry -birds wherein a trace exists of those appendages] . 
But one species was known for a long time, the Common Turkey {M. gallipavo, Lin.). It was brought from 
North America during the 16th century, and was soon diffused throughout Europe, where it continues to be 
reared for the excellency of its flesh, its great size, and the facility with which it is bred. The Wild Turkeys vastly 
exceed the domestic breed in brilliancy, and are of a greenish-brown, glossed with copper reflections. 
A second, however, has been recently described, the Ocellated Turkey (M. ocellata, Cuv.), which approximates 
the Peafowl in the splendour of its colours, and by the disks of sapphirine-blue, inclosed by circles of gold and 
ruby-red, which adorn the tail-coverts. It was captured in the Bay of Honduras. 
[We may here introduce a large Poultry-bird of New Holland, 
II 
The Vultern {Alecturn, Gray), — 
Which has been strangely arranged by some authors among the Vultures, on account of its bald neck. 
From the Poultry generally, it is distinguished by the shortness of the downy plumage of the rump, 
as in the Touracos ; its hind-toe is large, and on the .lame plane with those in front, the same as in 
the Curassows, like which it is also destitute of spurs ; but its tail-feathers are eighteen in number. 
One species only is known {A. LatJiami, Gray), entirely of a dusky colour, the feathers of the under-parts tipped j 
with whitish.] 
generally surmounted by a callous crest. Their feet are without spurs ; the tail short and pendent, so 
that the long feathers of the croup impart a rounded figure. 
The common domestic species {N. meleagris, Lin.), originally from Africa [the indigenous habitat of all], has a 
slate-coloured plumage, everywhere speckled with round white spots [of different sizes]. Its noisy and querulous 
disposition render it an incommodious species in poultry-yards, although its flesh is excellent. In the wild state, 
they live in large flocks, and prefer the neighbourhood of marshes. 
[Three or four others are known, of which N. vulturina, Gould, is the most beautiful, having pointed purple 
feathers on the lower part of the neck; the body -plumage of all being nearly similar. The Crested Pintado ] 
(N. eristata, Pallas), is very remarkable for the appendage to the furcula forming a sort of cup, in which the 
trachea undergoes a convolution. No trace of this structure exists in the common species.] 
The great genus of 
each side with fleshy wattles. Their tail-feathers, fourteen in number, are elevated on two vertical v 
planes, placed back to back; the coverts of that of the male are prolonged to form the arch over the 
tail proper. 
The species so common in our poultry-yards, [absolutely without a special English name] {Ph. gallus, Lin.), 
varies endlessly in colour, and very much in size : there are races wherein the fleshy comb is replaced by a crest ijli 
of reverted feathers ; some in which the tarsi and even the toes are feathered ; another in which the crest, wattles, .® 
and periosteum of the whole skeleton are black ; and some monstrous kinds which have hereditarily five and evenjffl 
six toes to each foot. -^1 
male : circumference of the eye, and even the cheeks, naked, as in the Pheasants, and the tarsi armed 
The Pintados (Numida, Lin.), 
Or Guinea-fowl, have a naked head, and fleshy wattles below the cheeks, a short tail, and the skull| 
of which are variously disposed. We first distinguish among them 
The Fowls {Gallus, Cuv.), — 
The head of whieh is surmounted by a vertical fleshy comb, and the inferior mandible furnished on 
Pheasants {Phasianus, Lin.) — 
Is characterized by partly naked cheeks, covered with a red skin, and by the tectiform tail, the feathers 
