ANALYTICAL TABLE OF THE HIGHER GROUPS. 
155 
Nostrils perforate. Bill lengthened and comparatively weak, little hooked, con- 
tracted in its continuity ; tomia not toothed or lobed. Head naked of feathers 
in greatest part; sparsely bristly. No lower larnyx developed. No cceca. 
After-shafts absent XXXII. Cathartidce.^ 1 
Family of COLUMBiE. 
With characters essentially as in Columbce (exclusive of those peculiar to Di- 
duncudidce and Dididoe). Plumage without after-shafts; the feathers with thick- 
ened, spongy rhachis loosely inserted in the skin. Head small, completely 
feathered,, excepting sometimes a circum orbital space. Tarsi naked or only 
feathered a little waj^ above. Tail of twelve feathers, or lengthened, cuneate, and 
of fourteen. (Hallux not perfectly incumbent in Starncenas.) . XXXIII. Columbidce. 
Analysis of Families of GALLINiEI. 
Hind toe lengthened, insistent. Tail-feathers twelve. Sides of head and 
throat with naked spaces. Color greenish XXXIV. Cracidce. v 
Hind toe shortened, elevated. Tail-feathers usually fourteen or more. No 
green. 
Large. Tarsi, toes, and nasal fossae naked. Head bare of feathers, sparsely 
bristly, with wattles and caruncles. A pectoral tuft of bristly feathers. 
Tarsi usually spurred in the male. Plumage iridescent . XXXV. Meleagrididce.\S 
Medium. Tarsi wholly or in great part, sometimes also the toes, and always 
the nasal fossae, feathered. Head completely feathered, excepting a definite 
papillate strip over the eye. ' Tail-feathers sixteen or more. Sides of neck 
usually with lengthened feathers, or a naked distensible area, or both. No / 
spurs. Plumage without iridescence .... XXXVI. Tetraonidcey 
Small. Tarsi, toes, and nasal fossae naked. Head completely feathered. 
No peculiar feathers or tympanum on sides of neck. No spurs. Plumage , 
not iridescent XXXVII. Perdicidcev 
Analysis of Families of LIMICOLiE. 
Toes not lobate. Tarsi not notably compressed. 
Legs extremely long; the tarsus equalling or exceeding the tail, and feet 
either four-toed and palmate ( Recurvirostra ) or three-toed and semipal- 
mate {Himantopus) ; with the bill much longer than the head, very slender, 
acute, and curved upward XXXVIII. Recurvirostridce. 
Legs moderate, stout. Tarsus shorter than tail. Bill hard, more or less 
contracted at base, with short nasal fossa, gonydeal angle, -and ascending 
gonys, the tip either compressed and truncate or depressed and acute. 
Feet three-toed and with basal webbing {Hcematopus) , or four-toed and 
cleft {Strep silas) XXXIX. Hcematopodidce. 
Legs moderate. Tarsus shorter than tail, reticulate. Hind toe wanting 
(except in Squatarola , where very small, and in Aplirizci). Bill short, 
straight, — not exceeding the head (generally shorter), — shaped like a 
pigeon’s, with short, broad, soft nasal fossae separated by a constriction from 
the enlarged, obtuse, horny terminal part. Head large, globose, contracting 
suddenly to the bill. Neck short XL. Charadriidce. 
Legs moderate. Tarsus shorter than tail, scutellate. Hind toe present. 
Bill long, — equalling, or oftener exceeding, frequently several times longer 
