CARUNCULATED GROUND PIGEON. 
219 
tlieirs, as also by the nature and texture of its plu- 
mage ; but it differs from them, in possessing a 
naked red wattle, winch hangs pendant below the 
bill, in having more elongated tarsi, a rounded body, 
and less graceful form, by the manner in which it 
carries its tail, which is pendant like that of the Par- 
tridge, and lastly, by its rounded wings ; characters, 
he adds, which, by bringing it near to the true Gal- 
linffi, naturally place it between the Pigeons and 
these birds, as if to mark and form the passage be- 
tween the two groups. It builds its nest upon the 
ground in some slight depression, making it of twigs 
and the stems of dried grasses, upon which the fe- 
male deposits from six to eight reddish- white eggs, 
which are incubated alternately by both sexes- Tbe 
young, which are evolved from the shell clothed 
with a reddish-grey down, are immediately able to 
run about and follow their pai’ents, which conduct 
and keep them together by a constant and peculiar 
cry, and which brood over them with extended wings, 
either to protect them from the chilly airs of night, 
or to shelter them from the burning ardour of a mid- 
day sun. Their first nutriment con.sists of the larvae 
of ants and dead insects, as well. as worms, which 
are shewm to them by their parents, and which they 
alone devour. As they gain strength, they begin 
to look for their own food, and soon learn to pick 
up all sorts of grain, berries, insects, &c. They con- 
tinue, however, associated in coveys like tbe Par- 
tridge and other Tetraonidae, until nature again 
