PAVONIDyE. 
165 
remarkable scansorial character of having the three fore 
toes of nearly the same size. If the Cracid®, as we believe, 
is the scansorial family of the Ilasores, this singular 
analogy is precisely what we should expectin two groups 
representing the same tribes. The habits of the two 
last-named genera have never been made known. Our 
learned friend, chief justice Field of Gibraltar, long a 
resident in New Holland, assures us that Menura, in 
aU its habits, is a gallinaceous bird ; living on the ground 
in small societies, and very fond of rolling in the dust. 
( 1 86 .) The Pa vonida;, containing the peacock and phea- 
sant, as M.Cuvier well remarks, follow the great Gallina- 
cea of America, noticed in the last family. In this group 
have been assembled also the different species of cocks, 
scattered so profusely over the hotter latitudes of Asia. 
We now have the typical characters of the whole order 
displayed in the conspicuous shortness of the hind toe, 
the formidable spurs on the legs, and the most beautiful 
developement of the tail. The whole of the genera 
belonging to this division, with the exception of the 
turkey, are natives of the warm latitudes of the Old 
World. 
(187.) Among the genera, we shall first notice that 
of Meleagris, comprising the domestic turkey, and 
another, still more beautiful, inhabiring the forests of 
Honduras. This latter (the Meleagris ocelkita Cuv.) 
has the tail feathers ornamented with eyelike spots, 
something in the manner of the Oriental peacocks, 
which it seems to represent in the New World. On 
the magnificence of our domestic peacock, standing at 
the head of the genus Pavo, we need not dwell ; we can 
conceive nothing more grand, at least, to the eye of an 
ornithologist, than to contemplate, unobserved, a flock 
of these gorgeous birds in their native forests : they 
appear to he common in most parts of Hindostan, and 
are considered by the English hunters as birds of game. 
China and Japan produce other species, scarcely less 
brilliant, but very little known in Europe. The Argus 
peacock or pheasant forms the genus Polyplecirou, 
M 3 
