230 
AVES. 
Others, 
The Attagens {Syrrhaptes, Illiger), — 
Are so far removed from the general type of the Poultry, that it is even doubtful whether they should 
range in the present order. [They appear to he nearly related to the Gangas.] Their short tarsi are 
feathered, as are also the toes, which are short, and joined together for a part of their length ; the 
wings being extremely long and pointed. 
But one species is known, from the deserts of central Asia [and very rarely eastern Europe,] (T. paradoxus, 
Pallas), the Heteroclyte of Temminck. 
We are equally necessitated to separate from the Grouse 
The Tinamous {Tinamus, Latham ; Crypturus, Illiger), — 
x\n American genus, remarkable for a long and slender neck, (although the tarsi are short,) covered with 
feathers, the tips of the barbs of which are slender and slightly curled, which imparts a peculiar air to 
that part of their plumage. The beak is long, slender, and blunt at the end ; somewhat vaulted, with 
a small groove at each side : the nostrils are pierced in the middle of each side, and penetrate obliquely 
backwards. Their wings are short, and they have scarcely any tail. The membrane between the base 
of their toes is very short. Their thumb, reduced to a spur, cannot touch the ground. They have a 
small naked space round the eye. These birds either perch 
on low branches, or conceal themselves in tall grass ; they 
live on fruits and insects, and their flesh is very good. Their 
size varies from that of a Pheasant down to that of a Quail, 
or even still smaller. [Eggs of a deep purple colour.] 
Some of them (the Pezus of Spix), have a small tail concealed 
under the feathers of the rump. Others (the Tinamus of Spix) have 
no tail at all, and the nostrils are placed a little further backward. 
We should distinguish the Rhynchotis of Spix, wherein the beak, 
which is stronger, has no groove, and is a little arcuated and de- 
pressed, with the nostrils pierced towards the base. 
The Pigeons {Columba, Lin.) — 
May be considered as forming some passage from the 
GallincB to the Passerines. As in the former, their 
beak is vaulted, the nostrils are pierced in a large mem- 
branous space, and covered with a cartilaginous scale, 
which even forms a bulge at the base of the beak : the 
bony sternum (fig. Ill) is deeply and doubly emarginated, although somewhat differently [the 
inner notch being mostly reduced to a foramen ; the ridge of the 
sternum deep, and rounded off anteriorly (much as in the Par- 
rots) ; and the furcula flat and destitute of any appendage]. The 
crop (fig. 70, p. 160 ) is extremely large [and double, or expanding 
on each side of the cesophagus, in which it diflfers from that of 
any other bird; it also secretes a lacteal substance, as in the 
Parrots, during the period of incubation. The gizzard is power- 
fully muscular ; the intestines very long and slender, with minute 
coeca; and there is no gall bladder]. The inferior larynx is fur- 
nished with but one muscle proper — [we have invariably found 
two pairs] ; but there is no other membrane between the base of 
the toes than that which results from the continuity of the edges. 
The tail consists of twelve feathers, and they fly tolerably well. 
These birds are invariably monogamous, nestle in trees or the 
holes of rocks, and lay but very few eggs, ordinarily two, though 
they breed often. Both sexes incubate, and they feed their young 
by disgorging grain macerated in the crop. They form but one 
great genus, which naturalists have attempted to divide into three 
Figf. 110.— Sternum of Tinamou. 
Fig. 111. — Sternum of Pigeon. 
subgenera, from the greater or less strength of the bill, and the proportions of the feet. 
