Genus GEOPHILUS, — Selby. 
In their form and habits they approach still nearer 
to the typical Gallinaceous Birds than the species 
we have just been describing. Their tarsi are long 
and covered with hexagonal scales ; their tail short 
and rather pendant, their wings concave, short, and 
rounded, and their body, as compared with the 
typical pigeons, thick and heavy. A striking de- 
parture from the general economy of the Colum- 
bidffi is further observed in their mode of pro- 
pagation, the number of the eggs they lay each 
hatching not being confined to two, as is seen to 
prevail in the groups already described, but extend- 
ing to eight or ten, which are incubated upon the 
ground, and the young, like those of the true Galli- 
naceous Birds, are produced from the egg in such a 
state as to be able immediately to follow the parent, 
which broods over and attends them like the part- 
ridge or domestic fowl. They live entirely upon the 
ground, except during the hours of repose, when 
they sometimes retire to bushes or the low branches 
of trees. They walk and run with great quickness 
like the Gallinm, and in fact appear to be the forms 
which immediately connect this family with the Pa- 
