CHAPTER V

NEORNITHES CARINATAE _CONTINUED_

BRIGADE II–LEGION I (ALECTOROMORPHAE). ORDERS: TINAMIFORMES–GALLIFORMES– GRUIFORMES–CHARADRIIFORMES

ORDER VIII. TINAMIFORMES.

The primitive Neotropical Order Tinamiformes, with the Sub-Order TINAMI, and sole Family TINAMIDAE or CRYPTURIDAE, is classed here in accordance with Dr. Gadow's carefully-weighed decision;[142] yet the position must not be considered absolutely certain, most systematists placing it near the Ratitae. The complete fusion of vomer and palatine bones is unique among Birds, though partially noticeable in _Dromaeus_ and _Apteryx_; the conformation of the skull, the single head of the quadrate, the separation of the ischium and ilium, the absence of a pygostyle, the reduced tongue, the functionless tail, the gait and bearing are Struthionine features; but other points of structure, the pterylosis and the habits generally, are Galline.

The furcula is U-shaped; the sternum long and slender with well-developed keel; the head small; the neck thin and elongated with short plumage; the beak fairly strong, varying in length, and composed of more than one piece, the culmen being flattened and usually arched; the moderate metatarsus is transversely or hexagonally scutellated, and may be rough or smooth behind, while the hallux–wanting in _Calopezus_ and _Tinamotis_–is elevated, and the anterior toes are long or short, with moderate claws. The short wings are concave and rounded, with ten primaries and from thirteen to sixteen secondaries; the {183}abbreviated tail possesses ten very weak feathers, hidden by the coverts in _Tinamus_, _Nothocercus_, and _Crypturus_, and hardly distinguishable from them in _Rhynchotus_, _Nothoprocta_, and _Nothura_, the coverts themselves almost forming a train in the male of _Taoniscus_. _Calodromas_ has twelve rectrices. The tongue is small and triangular, the crop is large and globular, the after-shaft is rudimentary or wanting; powder-down feathers occur near the rump, and the down of the adults is sparing, while that of the nestlings, which run from the shell, is simple, as in Ratite birds, and of a buffish-brown or chestnut colour, often relieved by black markings and white streaks.

Like Partridges in appearance, and varying from the size of a large Fowl to that of a Quail, Tinamous are essentially ground-birds, and rarely perch, some species being solitary and others forming coveys; they haunt the undergrowth of thick forests, dry bushy and grassy flats, or–exceptionally–rocky mountains. The flight is strong and extremely swift, accompanied by quick vibrations of the wings, occasionally varied by a gliding motion; so reckless moreover is the pace that individuals are frequently killed by striking against the first obstacle they meet on rising. To flush them, however, is often a vain attempt, as they run with amazing rapidity, and are readily concealed by the surrounding vegetation. The voice–a trill or mellow whistle of several notes–differs somewhat according to the species, and may be heard even in winter; the food consists of seeds, berries, roots, bulbs, spiders, insects and their larvae, maize- and potato-crops being at times seriously damaged. A hole is scraped under shelter of a tussock or bush, and scantily lined with dry leaves or herbage, to receive the eggs, deposited in some districts almost throughout the year; these are oval, and so wonderfully burnished as to be totally unlike those of any other bird. They vary, according to the species, from reddish-chocolate, wine-purple, or liver-colour to dark blue, bluish-green or primrose, and number from four or five to sixteen; though the smaller figures are perhaps the most reliable, as larger sets, though not uncommon, may be the produce of more than one hen. As in the Turnicidae, and to some extent in the Ratitae, the male alone incubates, sitting about three weeks, and feigning disablement to decoy intruders from the nest. The flesh is very delicate, and good sport may be had with some species near the holes where they daily dust themselves.

{184}As will be seen from the following examples, the general coloration is rufous or slaty-brown, which may be relieved by buff, or barred with blackish above and even below; the under parts being often greyer, with whitish throat and belly. The sexes do not differ greatly, but the female is, if anything, the larger bird. Some six forms occur in Mexico, while of the remainder _Tinamotis ingoufi_ extends the range to Southern Patagonia.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.–Great Tinamou. _Rhynchotus rufescens._ × ⅕]

The genus _Tinamus_ has ten members, _T. tao_, of South America north of Bolivia and Brazil, being greyish-olive, with slaty breast and buff abdomen, wavy blackish markings on both surfaces, black primaries, black head and neck with white spots and bands on the sides, and still whiter throat. Of the thirty or more species of _Crypturus_, _C. tataupa_, extending from Peru and Bolivia to Brazil and Argentina, is plain chestnut-brown, with blackish crown, grey cheeks, neck, and breast, whitish throat and belly, buffish flanks with black crescentic bars, red beak, and pinkish feet. It haunts dense undergrowth in forests, even near habitations, and frequently sits bent forward with its "tail" expanded over its back; its melody consists of several notes at diminishing intervals, merging into a hurried trill, which is terminated by a reiterated sound like chororó; its eggs are of a reddish chocolate-colour. _Rhynchotus rufescens_ of the same countries except Peru, the "Perdiz grande" of Argentina, which is represented in Bolivia by the similar _R. maculicollis_, is grey-brown, with blacker crown, rufous cheeks, neck, and breast, and chestnut primaries; the back being barred with whitish and black, and the flanks with brown and white. This somewhat solitary bird threads {185}the tall grasses of the Pampas like a Rail, and, if unable to escape by squatting or running, will fly for some thousand yards, and thrice repeat the effort before becoming exhausted, the rapid whirring of the pinions sounding like a vehicle driven quickly over stones. The song, as it may almost be called, consists of five or six flute-like notes, several individuals sometimes joining in chorus towards evening, when they are decidedly active. The eggs, which are dark purple, have been hatched in confinement, and attempts at naturalization have been made in Essex and Herts. _Nothoprocta_ contains eight members, _N. pentlandi_ of the Bolivian and Argentine Andes having the crown and back grey, barred with black and buff, and streaked with white, the remiges blackish and buff, the cheeks and breast grey, the throat, mid-abdomen and pectoral spots whitish, the flanks grey, black and white. Its powers of flying and running are comparatively small, and it will remain stationary for hours among stones or bushes in ravines, escaping observation by its dull hue. The note is a full-toned whistle; the food consists of seeds, fruits, and insects; the eggs are reddish-brown. Of seven species of _Nothura_, _N. maculosa_, the "Perdiz comun," found from South Brazil to Argentina, is yellowish-brown above, barred with black and streaked with whitish, the throat being white, the wings marked with fulvous, and the lower parts rusty with brown breast-spots and curved flank-bands. It is a fearless, solitary, and somewhat sluggish denizen of grassy plains, which does not avoid habitations, and may be knocked down with a whip or stone, feigning death when captured; the note resembles that of _Crypturus tataupa_ without the final intonation; the eggs are wine-purple or liver-coloured. _N. darwini_, the shy "Perdiz chico" of Patagonia, is greyer. _Calodromas_ (_Calopezus_) _elegans_, the Martineta, ranging from South Uruguay to Patagonia, has a grey and black head and neck with long recurved crest, elevated in excitement, two white bands on each side of the head, rufous and black upper parts, whitish throat and marks on the primaries, and buffish under surface with crescentic black bars and spots. It frequents dry bushy table-lands, often in coveys of twenty or thirty, which run squealing in single file before intruders, and utter, in summer only, a long plaintive whistle, or chorus of notes like those of _Rhynchotus_, but weaker. The flight, accompanied by a wailing sound, is broken by intervals of gliding; the four to sixteen eggs are deep green or yellowish. {186}The remaining genera are _Nothocercus_ with five, _Taoniscus_ with one, and _Tinamotis_ with two species.

ORDER IX. GALLIFORMES.

The Galliformes, or Gallinaceous Birds, constitute a large and fairly homogeneous Order, situated between the Tinamiformes and the Gruiformes, if we assume the former to be classified in accordance with the views of Dr. Gadow, and not to be placed nearer to the Ratitae; the Gruiformes again linking themselves to the Laro-Limicoline section of the Charadriiformes, and so forth. _Opisthocomus_, however, though decidedly Galline, shows considerable resemblance to the Cuckoo-tribe.[143] The present Order may be divided into the Sub-Orders MESITAE, with the Family _Mesitidae_; TURNICES, with the _Turnicidae_ or Button-Quails, and the _Pedionomidae_; GALLI, with the _Megapodiidae_ or Mound-builders, the _Cracidae_ or Curassows, and the _Phasianidae_ or Game-birds, Fowls, and the like; and finally OPISTHOCOMI, with the Family _Opisthocomidae_, containing but one species, the exceptionally curious Hoatzin. Among the _Galli_, the _Megapodiidae_ and _Cracidae_ together compose Professor Huxley's group of Peristeropodes or Pigeon-footed forms, where all the toes are in one plane; the _Phasianidae_ standing alone in his Alectoropodes, or Fowl-footed division, where the hallux is elevated above its fellows.

Excluding _Mesites_, of which comparatively little is known, all the members of the Order agree in having a more or less globular crop, and a somewhat scanty supply of down in the adults, with a more uniform coating in the young, which becomes thinner in _Opisthocomus_; they may be distinguished from the Gruiformes, except _Rhinochetus_, by their impervious nostrils, while the Tinamiformes differ in the compound structure of their bills, the primitive sternum, and the invariably weak rectrices.

Sub-Order MESITAE. Fam. I. MESITIDAE.–This consists of a single genus, _Mesites_, from Madagascar, originally referred by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to the neighbourhood of the Pigeons, and by subsequent writers to that of the Passerine, Ardeine, or Ralline birds.[144] W. A. Forbes[145] classed it next to _Eurypyga_ and {187}_Rhinochetus_; but Dr. Gadow, as may be seen from above, places it in the Galliformes, considering it to be a connecting link between that Order, the Tinamiformes, and the Gruiformes.

In this curious form the bill is long and slender; the legs are rather weak, with the uniformly scutellated metatarsus shorter than the partially bare tibia; while the toes, which are without webs, are on the same level. The keel of the sternum is short, the anterior extremity hardly reaching beyond the middle of the breast-bone, and the clavicles are quite rudimentary. The wing is rounded, and has ten primaries and six secondaries; the tail is strong and well-developed, with fourteen (or sixteen) rectrices. Mr. E. Bartlett tells us that the quills of the soft feathers of the back and rump are so delicate that the plumage curls forward immediately upon the bird's death.[146] The after-shaft is absent, the pervious nostrils are long and linear, the lores and bluish orbits are naked. No less than five pairs of powder-down patches have been ascertained to exist, of which two couples are dorsal, one adjoins the upper pectoral muscles, and two are ventral. _M. variegatus_ is cinnamon, with black and tawny markings, the lower parts being white with black spots and reddish flanks. The female is mostly rufous below. _M. unicolor_ is not distinct. Hardly anything is known of the habits, but the nest is said to be upon the ground.

Sub-Order TURNICES.–This consists of the two Families, _Turnicidae_ and _Pedionomidae_, each with one genus, _Turnix_ or _Hemipodius_, and _Pedionomus_ respectively; the last-named, moreover, has but one species. _Ortyxelus meiffreni_ (p. 295), may belong here.

Fam. II. TURNICIDAE.–In this group the bill is short, but commonly less stout than that of the _Phasianidae_, which it otherwise resembles; the metatarsus is long, slender, and scutellated, the hallux is absent, the claws are small, curved, and sharp. The wings are broad and rather short, with ten primaries and about fifteen secondaries; the abbreviated tail contains twelve soft rectrices, which are not so long as the upper coverts in _Turnix ocellata_, while in _T. sylvatica_ and several nearly-allied species the median feathers are somewhat elongated and acute. The furcula is U-shaped, and the crop is almost absent, but an after-shaft is present; the pointed tongue, the impervious nostrils, and the tracheo-bronchial syrinx calling for no special remark. Where the sexes {188}differ, the female is almost always the larger and brighter-plumaged bird, the colours being black, brown, buff, chestnut, and white in varying admixture, and becoming less distinct with age.

These small, solitary, and non-migratory forms often escape observation through their shyness, as they run strongly, and are flushed with the greatest difficulty, dropping quickly into cover after a short awkward flight; they frequent dry, grassy plains and localities covered with low trees or dense bushes, and utter a pleasant ringing or triple grating cry, with a mournful call-note at dawn and sunset.[147] The food consists of seeds and insect-larvae; the well-concealed nest is little more than a hole lined with dry grass, though sometimes domed with similar materials; the three to five eggs, shaped somewhat like peg-tops, are buff or greyish, with spots of pale grey, purplish, or dark brown. Two broods are raised in a season, and it is a noticeable fact that the comparatively dull-hued male performs all, or nearly all, the duties of incubation, sitting very closely, and feigning lameness when surprised with the young, which run from the shell. The adults frequently fight, but the sex of the combatants is uncertain.

The genus _Turnix_ includes some twenty "Hemipodes," the Bustard- or Button-Quails of Anglo-Indians, which range from South Europe, Arabia, and Africa to India, China, the Liu-Kiu Islands, and Formosa, as well as to Australia, New Britain, and New Caledonia. The female is described below, unless otherwise stated. _T. taigoor_, reaching from India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula to the Liu-Kiu Islands and Formosa, is brown above, with black bars and vermiculations, and buff margins to many of the feathers; the forehead and sides of the head and neck are white spotted with black, the mid-throat and chest are black, a whitish stripe divides the crown, and the under parts are buff, banded with black on the sides of the chest and on the breast. The whole chest is barred in the male, the centre of the throat being white. Darker birds apparently inhabit wetter districts.[148] _T. pugnax_ of Ceylon and the Great Sunda Islands is a rufous-naped race. _T. fasciata_, with a rufous collar, but grey and black upper surface, inhabits the Philippines and Paláwan; _T. rufilata_, of Celebes, has the throat barred with black, {189}and a rufous vent-region, _T. powelli_ of the Lesser Sunda Islands being similar. The males lack the rufous collar and barred throat. _T. sylvatica_, of South Europe and Africa generally, has in both sexes dull reddish upper parts, barred with black and relieved by white, grey, and buff, which cause a scaly appearance; the browner wings shew white spots, the centre of the crown and throat are white, the sides of the head, neck, and breast whitish with black spots, the mid-chest and abdomen ruddy and buff respectively. _T. dussumieri_, the smallest species known, occurring in India, Pegu, Hainan, and Formosa, differs in the wide yellowish margins of the scapulars, a feature found also in the blacker _T. nana_ and _T. hottentotta_ of Africa, wherein the sides are barred. The former ranges from lat. 10° S. to the Great Karroo, and the latter southward of that district. _T. blanfordi_ is found east of the Bay of Bengal to Siam and Manchuria, _T. tanki_ in India and eastward to Tipperah, _T. albiventris_ in the Andamans and Nicobars; all being greyish above varied with black, and having the nape rufous in the female only. _T. maculosa_ of Celebes, Southern New Guinea, and Australia, and _T. saturata_ of New Britain and the Duke of York group are similar, but exhibit yellow-edged scapulars; the latter possessing no rusty collar, but having a white throat in the male. _T. ocellata_ of Luzon is a large greenish-brown species vermiculated with black; in which the neck and breast are bright ruddy, the crown is blackish banded with white, the throat and cheeks are chiefly black, and the wing-coverts show black ocelli with whitish margins. The male has the middle of the throat white and no rufous collar. _T. nigricollis_ of Madagascar is grey, black, reddish, and buff above, with much black and white on the head; and is uniform grey below, with black mid-throat and more or less ruddy sides. The throat is white in the male. The female of _T. melanogaster_ of East Australia has both throat and breast black, with white markings on the latter, the male reversing the colours. Other Australian forms are _T. varia_, with chestnut nuchal collar, black, white, and rufous upper, and grey and buff under parts; _T. castanonota_, with vinous red upper surface; _T. pyrrhothorax_, chiefly greyish above and rusty buff below; and _T. velox_, reddish-chestnut in colour with nearly white lower parts. In these four the sexes are alike. _T. leucogaster_ inhabits Central Australia.

Fam. III. PEDIONOMIDAE.–_Pedionomus torquatus_ differs in {190}structure from _Turnix_ by the presence of a small hind-toe. The lax upper plumage is, in the female, reddish-brown with black barring and buff margins to the feathers, the lower parts being pale buff marked with black. A broad white collar spotted with black surrounds the neck, while a rust-coloured nape and chest distinguish the above sex from the male, where the collar is brown and buff. This curious bird, somewhat smaller than a Quail, inhabits grassy plains in Southern and Eastern Australia, preferring the wilder districts. The habits are much as in _Turnix_, but the nest seems never to be domed, the four eggs being of a light stone-colour, thickly freckled and blotched with brown and grey.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.–"Plain-Wanderer." _Pedionomus torquatus._ × ½.]

Fam. IV. MEGAPODIIDAE.–The Megapodes, or Mound-builders, commence the section Peristeropodes (p. 186) of the Sub-Order GALLI. The bill is short, stout, and arched, though rather slender in _Megapodius_; the feet are exceptionally strong, and enormous for the size of the birds, _Lipoa_ having the smallest; while the metatarsi are usually scutellated, but are reticulated anteriorly in _Megacephalon_, which has comparatively short and blunt claws. The abbreviated wings have ten primaries and some six secondaries. The tail is long and rounded in _Talegallus_ and _Lipoa_, with upper coverts extending to the tip in the latter; it is short but still rounded in _Megapodius_; long and obcordate when expanded in _Catheturus_, _Aepypodius_, and _Megacephalon_. The rectrices number twelve in _Megapodius_, sixteen in _Lipoa_, {191}_Talegallus_, and _Aepypodius_, eighteen in _Megacephalon_ and _Catheturus_. _Aepypodius_ possesses an erect fleshy frontal crest and a pendent caruncle at the base of the fore-neck, or even a pair of lateral outgrowths near the nape; _Catheturus_ has a vascular neck-wattle: and _Megacephalon_ a rounded bony casque with a tubercle behind each nostril. The fleshy growths are yellow or reddish, the horny black. In _Aepypodius_, _Catheturus_, and _Megacephalon_ the naked head is clothed with hair-like feathers or papillae; _Lipoa_ and some species of _Megapodius_ have a short dense crest; others have the head almost entirely feathered, others again nearly bare except the occipital and nuchal region, as in _Talegallus_. The naked skin may be red, yellow, orange, purplish, grey, or pale blue; the bill and feet are black, brown, olive, yellow, red, orange, horn- or parti-coloured. The furcula is Y-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue sagittate, the gizzard muscular, and the aftershaft small. The size varies from that of a Turkey to that of a large Pigeon, the sexes being invariably similar.

Megapodes are shy terrestrial birds found in hill-valleys, among thickets near rivers or the sea, or on gravelly and sandy beaches. Upon the ground their gait is not ungraceful, while they run well, and only take to the wing when hard pressed; if disturbed they usually seek the lowest branches of the neighbouring trees, hopping gradually to the higher limbs; the flight is heavy, but can carry them from island to island. Always difficult of observation they are rarely seen in company, yet the larger breeding mounds are no doubt used by more pairs than one. Hoarse croaks or clucks are uttered in the day-time, mewing notes or noisy cackles at night; the food consists of fallen fruit, seeds, berries, worms, snails, insects, and even crabs. The brownish-red, salmon-coloured or whitish eggs, at least as large as those of the domestic duck, are deposited either in mounds constructed of soil and vegetable matter, or in holes made in sandy or shingly ground; the decaying vegetation or the sun's heat producing the effect of an artificial incubator, and making parental aid needless. The young extricate themselves readily from the superincumbent soil, being hatched in a feathered condition, and flying almost immediately. The flesh is dark and usually unpalatable.

Though mainly confined to the Australian Region, where it extends eastwards to Ninafou and Samoa, the Family reaches westward to the Nicobars, and northward to the Philippines and {192}Ladrones, replacing the Pheasants within these limits–save for the Philippines–just as the Cracidae do in Neotropical countries. No species is yet recorded from Sumatra or Java, and confirmation is needed in the case of the main island of Borneo.

_Megacephalon maleo_ of North Celebes and the Sanghir Islands is glossy blackish-brown, with salmon-pink breast and belly, a vaulted tail, a black casque of cellular tissue, and dusky bill and feet. The Maleo, as it is called, inhabits hilly country, but resorts in hundreds to sloping gravelly beaches to breed, holes being scratched or dug just above high-water mark, some four or five feet in diameter. In these from two to eight pale brownish-red eggs are laid, about six inches apart–at intervals, it is said, of a fortnight or so–several females occasionally using one cavity.

_Aepypodius bruijni_ of Waigiou is brownish-black, with chestnut rump and breast, dusky bill and feet; a fleshy papillose crest adorns the head, and three wattles–one median and two lateral–occur on the neck, all probably red in life. _Ae. arfakianus_ of New Guinea is black above and brownish below, with no lateral wattles.

_Catheturus lathami_, the "Brush Turkey" of Eastern Australia, is blackish-brown with greyish under surface, shewing conspicuous light margins to the feathers. It has a bright yellow neck-wattle, reddish head and neck, black bill and brown feet. This species forms mounds of earth and decayed leaves, sometimes as much as six feet high and fourteen feet in diameter at the base, and covers the coarse outer layers with fresh leaves and sticks. The central portion is hollowed out like a cup, successive layers of eggs being deposited from the circumference inwards in concentric circles, and the earth gradually filled in above them. Several females sometimes utilize the same mound, each being said to lay an egg every second day. These eggs, placed with the small end downwards, number from twenty to nearly forty, and are of a long pointed oval shape and of a white colour with minute granulations. The site is usually a level clearing among scrub, whither the materials are conveyed by being repeatedly thrown backwards by the feet, while the cock possibly assists in building.[149] _Talegallus cuvieri_, of Western New Guinea, Salwatti, Mysol and Gilolo, is black with whitish throat; the naked parts are red-brown, the bill and feet {193}reddish-orange and yellow respectively. _T. fuscirostris_, of South and East New Guinea, with the Aru Islands, differs in its grey-black bare areas and brown bill; _T. jobiensis_, of Jobi Island and East New Guinea, has the bill, feet, and naked skin red. The habits resemble those of _Catheturus_: the mounds, which reach an internal temperature of 93° F., are sometimes eleven feet high; the eggs are reddish with a chalky incrustation.

[Illustration: FIG. 44.–"Brush Turkey." _Catheturus lathami._ × ⅙.]

_Lipoa ocellata_, the Native Pheasant or Mallee Hen of South and West Australia, has grey and brown upper parts, with black, buff, and white markings, which form eyes on the wings and back. The breast is grey with a median black and white line, the remaining lower parts being whitish with a rufous tinge. The naked parts are pale blue, the bill and feet brown. This bird frequents both open parts of the "brushes" and dense thickets, while in manners it differs but little from the members of the last two genera. The mounds–usually in close proximity–are, however, smaller as a rule, and are stated to be used by single hens, a fact no doubt true in many cases. The six to eight eggs, which are pinkish-white, but become red-brown in a few days, are very fragile, as in other Megapodes. The natives say that an egg is {194}deposited daily, the discrepancy between _Lipoa_ and _Megacephalon_ being in this respect very remarkable, but conflicting assertions are only what may be expected where several females lay together, and further investigation should easily decide the question.

The genus _Megapodius_ contains some fifteen species, about the size of a small fowl, in which the coloration varies from olive or chestnut-brown to blackish or grey above, and from red-brown to pale or dark-grey below, the bill being reddish, greenish, or yellowish, and the feet black, red, orange, yellow, or horn-coloured. _M. pritchardi_, of Ninafou, alone has white bases to the primaries, and _M. wallacii_, of the Moluccas, exhibits bright chestnut bands on the upper surface. _M. duperreyi_ (_tumulus_), which ranges from the Kangeang Islands and Lombok to New Guinea and North-East Australia, fashions mounds, occasionally ten feet high, in dense scrub, laying pale coffee-coloured eggs in long burrows bored laterally, and not in symmetrical circles, as does _Catheturus_. _M. layardi_, of the New Hebrides, frequents damp wooded ravines, and is said to deposit its red-brown eggs among leaves in hollows. _M. cumingi_, found from the islands north of Borneo and Paláwan to the Philippines and Celebes, builds mounds of sand, leaves, and so forth, near the sea, the chalky eggs having a salmon hue. _M. eremita_, extending from the Solomon Islands almost to New Guinea, buries its eggs a couple of feet deep in open sandy spots, kept clear and fenced into allotments by the natives in Savo and Guadalcanar; while _M. nicobariensis_, of the Nicobars, appears to flock more than other Megapodes, and to lay its eggs at long intervals. _M. tenimberensis_, of the Tenimber Islands, _M. sanghirensis_ of the Sanghir group, _M. bernsteini_ of the Sula Islands, _M. forsteni_ and _M. freycineti_, ranging from the Moluccas to Western or even Northern New Guinea, _M. macgillivrayi_ of the Louisiade and D'Entrecasteaux Archipelagos and Eastern New Guinea, _M. geelvinkianus_, of the west of the latter with its islands, and _M. laperousii_, of the Pelew and Ladrone groups, are like their congeners in habits and appearance. _Chosornis praeteritus_ is an extinct form from Queensland.

Fam. V. CRACIDAE.–These birds are almost identical in structure with the _Megapodiidae_, though sharply contrasted in their arboreal habits and their style of breeding. They may be divided into the Sub-families (1) _Cracinae_ or Curassows, (2) _Penelopinae_ or Guans, and (3) _Oreophasinae_. Of the first of these, where the maxilla is higher than it is broad, the genus _Crax_ has a soft {195}cere, and nostrils in the middle of the bill, with the addition in many cases of frontal excrescences and wattles; _Nothocrax_, _Pauxis_ and _Mitua_ have the beak horny and the nostrils basal, _Pauxis_, moreover, being distinguished by a large knob on the forehead, and _Mitua_ by its short, highly-compressed bill with swollen culmen. The remaining Sub-families have the maxilla depressed and broader than it is high; _Penelope_, _Penelopina_ and _Pipile_ exhibit bare throats with a median wattle, _Ortalis_ a mere band of bristly-shafted feathers down the middle, and _Aburria_ a feathered throat and vermiform wattle, while _Chamaepetes_ shews neither wattle nor bare skin, and _Oreophasis_, the sole tenant of the _Oreophasinae_, a naked crown, surmounted by a cylindrical helmet. The males of _Crax_, _Pauxis_, and _Mitua_, and both sexes of _Penelope jacucaca_, have the trachea looped, and sometimes extended to the posterior end of the keel of the sternum; other forms lack the convolutions, but in several the state is unknown.

The range covers Central and South America, excluding the Greater Antilles, Chili and Patagonia, but one species (_Ortalis vetula_) even reaches as far north as Texas.

These handsome birds, from three feet to a foot and a half in length, frequent forests near the coast or wooded ravines on rivers, attaining at times an elevation of several thousand feet. They are often tame and show great curiosity, _Ortalis_ being commonly gregarious and pugnacious; some forms, moreover, rarely seek the ground and are only to be seen perched among the branches, but others haunt the undergrowth in the mid-day heat, and _Nothocrax_ is asserted to take refuge occasionally in hollow trees. The food consists of leaves and fruit, ordinarily procured in the morning or evening, while various species scratch among the débris like Pheasants. The flight is generally heavy and rapid, _Chamaepetes_ in particular descending with a noisy rush and stiffened wings; the alarm-note is loud and harsh, and in _Penelope_ cackling, but the more usual triple cry is clear and ringing, while _Ortalis_ utters a softer call, and vociferates in rattling chorus. The carelessly-constructed nest of twigs, grass, moss, and leaves is of considerable size, and is placed on the horizontal branch of a tree, in a bush, or on a stump, the two to five eggs–smaller than those of a hen–being white, with a hard granulated shell. The young soon climb and hop about the boughs like the adults, of which the flesh is considered a delicacy. Several species are {196}readily domesticated, but rarely breed in confinement. Hybrids with domestic fowls have been recorded. Except where mentioned below the sexes are alike.

[Illustration: FIG. 45.–Crested Curassow. _Crax alector._ × ⅐.]

Sub-fam. 1. _Cracinae._–_Crax alector_ is black with a purplish gloss, the belly being white, the naked lores and orbits black, the cere and base of the bill yellow, the tip bluish, and the feet horn-coloured. Throughout the whole genus, which is Central and South American, the female has a curly crest barred with white. The remaining nine species differ in being greenish-black, and–except _C. fasciolata_–have a frontal knob, with or without a basal wattle on each side of the mandible, the colour of these parts varying from scarlet or yellow to pale blue or purplish-black. The tail may be tipped with white; the females often exhibit white barring above, and have the plumage relieved by buff and chestnut. _Nothocrax urumutum_, ranging from British Guiana to the Upper Amazons, is chiefly chestnut above vermiculated with black, and cinnamon below; the wings and tail being blackish with buff markings, the throat chestnut, the long crest black, the naked lores and orbits yellow and purplish, the bill scarlet, the feet flesh-coloured. The female has the lower parts mottled with dusky. _Mitua mitu_ of British Guiana, Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia is blue-black, with chestnut {197}belly, white-tipped tail, red bill and feet; the crest being well-developed. _M. tomentosa_, of the first two countries only, has a shorter crest and chestnut-tipped tail, whereas _M. salvini_ of Ecuador has a white belly. _Pauxis galeata_, the Cashew-bird, inhabiting Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru, is glossy greenish-black with white abdomen and tip to the tail; the frontal knob, supposed to resemble a Cashew nut, being dull blue. The female shows a large admixture of chestnut and buff.

Sub-fam. 2. _Penelopinae._–The fifteen species of _Penelope_ are brown or olive-green, more or less varied with chestnut and rufous, or washed with purple or bronze; the feathers, moreover, have often whitish margins, the head in _P. pileata_, and the outer primaries in _P. albipennis_ becoming almost white. The wattled throat is generally feathered in _P._ (_Stegnolaema_) _montagnii_, but naked elsewhere, the colour being given as carmine in _P. cristata_, where the feet are red. The orbits are also bare, the crest is moderate, and the metatarsus in some cases is partly feathered. Two members of the genus inhabit Central America. _P. obscura_, the Pavo del Monte, alone reaches Northern Argentina, where _Crax fasciolata_, _Pipile cumanensis_, and _Ortalis canicollis_, the Charata, also represent the Family. _Penelopina nigra_, of the Guatemalan highlands, is greenish-black, barred and mottled with brown and buff in the female; the naked orbits are purplish, the bare throat, large wattle, bill and feet red. _Ortalis_ contains about seventeen forms, some hardly worthy of specific rank, of which five occur from South to Central America and one–_O. vetula_, the Chiacalaca–extends to Texas. _O. ruficauda_ is found in Tobago and the Grenadines. The coloration is brown or olive, with little or no metallic gloss, but relieved by chestnut, rufous and grey; the breast and belly being occasionally white or buff, the naked orbits and sides of the throat apparently reddish, and the feet pinkish, grey, or blue. _Pipile cumanensis_, of South America northwards from Bolivia and Brazil, with Trinidad, is greenish-black; a white crest of pointed feathers reaches the sides of the neck, some white shews on the wings and chest; the cere, naked orbits, lores, throat and wattle are blue, the feet red. _P. jacutinga_ of South-East Brazil and Paraguay has a purplish gloss above, and a red wattle; _P. cujubi_ of the Lower Amazons a brown crest margined with white. _Aburria carunculata_ of Colombia and Ecuador is greenish-black, with a scantily-feathered throat and long thin wattle. _Chamaepetes {198}goudoti_, of the same countries and Peru, is bronzy-brown with greyish head and rufous under parts; the Costa Rican and Veraguan _C. unicolor_ being nearly uniform greenish-black. In both these genera the orbits are more or less naked.

Sub-fam. 3. _Oreophasinae._–_Oreophasis derbianus_, the splendid Faisan of the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala, is greenish-black with dense velvety plumage extending from the forehead to the nostrils; the white lower parts become brownish at the sides and vent, and shew dark streaks; a white band crosses the tail; and a red cellular casque covered with hair-like feathers surmounts the head. The bill is pale yellow, the feet are vermilion.

Fam. VI. PHASIANIDAE.–Of really distinct Sub-families this group may be said to possess three, (1) the _Numidinae_, or Guinea-fowls, (2) the _Meleagrinae_, or Turkeys, and (3) the _Phasianinae_, or Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse; it is, however, customary to class the Grouse apart as _Tetraoninae_, though a difficulty at once arises in drawing the line of demarcation. For example, Huxley[150] considered _Caccabis_, _Francolinus_ and _Coturnix_ Galline, _i.e._ Phasianine; Dr. Gadow[151] makes them Tetraonine; while Mr. Ogilvie Grant[152] agrees with the former, but does not make these genera the link between the sections. Mr. Grant's view may be conveniently followed, but the division is in any case arbitrary. As a matter of further convenience a Partridge group (_Perdicinae_) may be formed, and the "American Partridges" may stand apart as _Odontophorinae_.

Passing mention should be made of the economical importance of this Family as a factor in our food-supply, whether in the wild state as game, or in the domesticated as poultry; for almost inconceivable numbers of birds are bred, exported, or used for eating in their native countries, while the value of domestic fowls' eggs can best be estimated by imagining the consequence of a failure in the production. Man's custom herein is no doubt guided by the ease with which most of the species are secured or reared, and by the great development of the pectoral muscles or "flesh of the breast."

The body is decidedly heavy, the head usually rather small, and the neck fairly long. The bill is comparatively short and stout–especially in _Ithagenes_, _Dendrortyx_, and elsewhere–but may be more elongated, as in _Lophophorus_ and _Euplocamus_; the maxilla {199}being curved, and overhanging the mandible, which exhibits two serrations on each side in the Odontophorinae. The metatarsus is strong and relatively short in Grouse and many Partridges, but in Pheasants and similar forms it is much longer; the feathering descends to the toes in the Tetraoninae, except _Bonasa_ and _Tetrastes_, the digits themselves being clothed in _Lagopus_, naked and pectinate at the sides in the remaining genera. No other members of the Family shew pectinations or have the metatarsus feathered, save _Lerwa_, where it is half covered. The hallux, invariably elevated, has only a rudimentary claw in _Rollulus_, _Melanoperdix_, and _Caloperdix_; _Arboricola_, _Dactylortyx_, and _Cyrtonyx_, on the contrary, have

## particularly long and somewhat straight claws. Spurs are of frequent

occurrence on the feet of the males, though rare in the females, some species possessing as many as three pairs; they are never found in the Tetraoninae or Odontophorinae, and are represented by mere knobs in _Acryllium_ (Numidinae). The wings are short and rounded, with ten primaries and from twelve to nineteen secondaries, both decreasing in length as they near the middle of the wing, which has thus a bilobed appearance when expanded. The primaries usually increase in length before decreasing, but in some cases the exterior quill is the longest, while in _Falcipennis_ two or three of the outer feathers are sickle-shaped, and in _Argus_ the secondaries are enormously developed. The tail is extremely variable, being long and rounded in _Lophophorus_; long and sharp-pointed in _Phasianus_ and _Centrocercus_; moderate, broad, and rounded in _Lagopus_, _Odontophorus_, and so forth; similar but more truncated in _Meleagris_; short in most Partridges; and exceptionally abbreviated in many Quails. The coverts far exceed the tail in the Peacock, forming its splendid train, while they are much elongated in _Chrysolophus_, and to some extent in _Coturnix_, _Excalphatoria_, and _Ceriornis_ (_Tragopan_). In _Pedioecetes_ the two middle rectrices surpass the rest and terminate abruptly; in _Lyrurus_ the exterior feathers fork outwards; in _Crossoptilon_ and _Gennaeus_ the median plumes curve over the others; and in _Lobiophasis_ not only is this the case, but the rhachis extends beyond the webs, which are much reduced on the outer side of the lateral quills; in _Argusianus_ and _Rheinardtius_ the middle pair is extraordinarily lengthened. The whole tail is compressed or "vaulted" to a greater or less degree in _Gallus_, _Chrysolophus_, _Lophura_, _Acomus_, _Gennaeus_ {200}and _Crossoptilon_. _Excalphatoria_ is remarkable for possessing only eight rectrices; ten are found in _Microperdix_, and occasionally in _Synoecus_ and _Coturnix_; but the usual number is from twelve to twenty-four, while _Lobiophasis_ has thirty-two in the male and twenty-eight in the female. The nostrils are concealed by the feathering in the Tetraoninae alone, the aftershaft is large except in _Pavo_, the furcula is Y-shaped, the tongue sagittate, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial. The globular crop and muscular gizzard are decidedly characteristic, yet _Argusianus_ has been said to lack the former, and _Centrocercus_ the latter. In the male of _Tetrao urogallus_ and both sexes of _Guttera_ the trachea has a loop, which in the latter case passes through a cavity in the head of the furcula.

The plumage is of the most varied description, the winter coat of _Lagopus_ being commonly white, the males of _Lyrurus_, _Tetrao_, and _Melanoperdix_ nearly black, while the prevailing colours in _Chrysolophus pictus_ are orange and red, in _Gennaeus nycthemerus_ black and white, in _Rollulus_ dull green and maroon, in _Gallus_ orange, red, purple, green, black, and white, in _Phasianus_ metallic green, orange, and brown. In the _Numidinae_ white or bluish spots mark the blackish ground-colour; in the American Grouse black, brown, yellowish-buff and white occur in varying proportions; while the Partridges and Quails exhibit, as a rule, still more sober tints of brown, relieved by dull red or buff. Peacocks, again, show a combination of beautiful metallic blues and greens with copper and buff, rarely found elsewhere in the Family; nor must _Lophophorus_, _Lophura_, _Lobiophasis_, and _Ceriornis_ be left out of consideration. The ocelli or "eyes" on the Peacock's train hardly require mention; _Polyplectron_ has similar adornments on both the tail and the upper parts in the male, on the tail alone in the female; _Argusianus_ on the secondaries and rectrices in the male, _Meleagris ocellata_ on the latter in both sexes. The feathers of the crown are curled in _Crossoptilon_, _Pavo_, and _Lophophorus sclateri_, and fine crests are by no means uncommon; the component plumes being more or less racquet-shaped in _Lophura_ and _Lophortyx_, and in _Pavo cristatus_ consisting of webs at the end of bare shafts. The crests of _Chrysolophus_ and _Gennaeus_ are recumbent, those of _Rollulus_ and _Rheinardtius_ upright; while, among others, the full head-tufts of _Ithagenes_ and most species of _Lophophorus_, with the comparatively short ornaments of _Haematortyx_, _Ceriornis_, and _Callipepla_ are worth notice. _Crossoptilon_, {201}_Pucrasia_, and _Phasianus_ have elongated ear-coverts or feathers behind the ear, the white plumes of the first-named being especially remarkable and common to both sexes; an erectile cape surmounts the nape in _Chrysolophus_; _Meleagris_ has a peculiar patch of long bristles on the breast, _Bonasa_ a ruff on the sides of the neck; _Gallus_ and _Acryllium_ have hackles or lanceolate feathers in various parts, moulted–in the former at least–during the summer. All these decorations are absent or less pronounced in the females, which are, as a rule, dull in colour.

The head is entirely naked in _Meleagris_, and is covered with caruncles, an erectile process hanging from the forehead; a pair of long fleshy horns above the eyes distinguish _Ceriornis_, which has in addition a large wattle on the throat; a comb of similar substance is accompanied by a single median or two pairs of lateral wattles in _Gallus_; while the sides of the face, the orbits, or the fore-neck, are bare in many genera. The male of _Lobiophasis_ has the head nearly naked, with no less than three pairs of wattles; though the female has but one rudimentary pair of the latter, and only the cheeks unfeathered. In all these cases the skin and outgrowths are red or blue. The head and neck are bare in the Numidinae, except for a crest in _Guttera_, a crescentic nuchal band of feathers in _Acryllium_, and a line of plumage down the crown in _Phasidus_; wattles occur at the angles of the gape in _Guttera_ and _Numida_, both these and the naked skin being blue and red throughout the Sub-family, save in _Phasidus_, where the latter is yellow, and in _Agelastes_, where it is red and white. The bony casque of _Numida_ is red or horn-coloured. The Tetraoninae have merely a little red or yellow skin over the eye. In females all the fleshy outgrowths are much smaller or absent, throughout the Family.

Air-sacs of orange skin lie below the side-feathers of the neck in the males of _Centrocercus_, _Dendragapus_, and _Tympanuchus_, and become visible when inflated; they are supposed to produce the booming ventriloquistic sound, uttered in the breeding season. _Bonasa_ has a naked space in a similar position, but its drumming is stated to be caused by the wings. _Pedioecetes_ can hardly be said to have air-sacs, yet it also drums, while the exact nature of the corresponding sounds made by _Tetrao urogallus_ and _Lyrurus tetrix_ is uncertain. The "gobble" of the domestic Turkey is a parallel instance, in so far as it is uttered during excitement.

The members of this Family, which range in size from the {202}splendid Capercaillie (_T. urogallus_) to the small Quail-like _Excalphatoria sinensis_, are all weighty birds for their bulk, rising heavily and noisily, and travelling with low and steady, though often laboured, flight; in many cases the pace is extremely rapid, but comparatively short distances are covered before alighting. On the whole, they are certainly

## partial to dry localities, which may, however, be prairies and heaths, as

in many Grouse, wooded or open country generally, as in Pheasants, or stony hill-sides, as in _Tetraogallus_, _Ammoperdix_, and some species of _Lagopus_ and _Caccabis_; yet a few seem to prefer the vicinity of marshes, and others are constantly met with at considerable elevations. The great facility with which game-birds run, their frequent custom of lying until they are almost trodden upon, and that of combining into coveys or packs consisting of two or more broods, are too well-known to need lengthy description here. The strutting and parading of the cocks of the larger species is fully noticed below, while the habit common to most forms of dusting themselves, instead of washing, is also noticeable. Many are almost entirely terrestrial, a love for trees being in fact exceptional; nevertheless, instances might easily be adduced of roosting on branches or taking refuge there when disturbed, and though _Lagopus_, _Francolinus_, and _Perdix_ are notoriously averse to perching, the writer himself has seen five or six Red Grouse sitting on low trees, within half an hour. _Tetrao_, _Lyrurus_, _Phasianus_, _Pavo_, and _Meleagris_ well exemplify the polygamous habits not unfrequent in the Family, the males in such cases usually deserting their mates during incubation; _Coturnix_ and _Ortyx_, moreover, are stated to be not invariably monogamous. The nest is nearly always on or close to the ground, and is formed of a few twigs, grass, moss, feathers, and leaves; the hole, usually scraped as a commencement, being sometimes barely lined. _Polyplectron_, as a rule, deposits two eggs, but the number in most species is much greater, from sixteen to twenty being not uncommonly found, or even more where two hens lay together–a fairly ordinary practice in the group. The colour in Grouse is yellowish or reddish, either with rufous spots or close blotches of black, purple, or orange-brown; in the Pheasant and Partridge it is uniform olive, and in the Odontophorinae pure white, with or without brown or red markings. Further information is given {203}below. Few Galline birds, besides the American Partridges, breed twice in a season. The male has been observed to incubate in _Ortyx_, and in this genus and _Odontophorus_ domed nests are on record, while many species lay their eggs in depressions under over-arching tufts of heather or grass. Incubation lasts from eighteen to twenty-eight days, the young running almost from the shell. The note is shrill in Guinea-fowls, Partridges, and Quails, somewhat whistling in _Polyplectron_ and _Tetrastes_, and generally consists of two or more syllables; but in view of subsequent details, it is sufficient to particularize the "cok-cok-cok" of the Grouse, the crow of the Pheasant and the Cock, the cluck and cackle of the Hen, the scream of the Peacock, and the gobble of the Turkey. The food is chiefly vegetable, and includes shoots, buds, leaves, grass, bulbs, seeds, berries and other fruits, with a certain amount of grit; but worms, molluscs, ants and their cocoons, insects and their larvae, swell the list. Juniper twigs or berries are supposed to give a flavour to the Hazel Grouse, pine tips to the Capercaillie, whereas the "Sage-brush" of America (_Artemisia tridentata_) bestows its name upon the Sage-cock (_Centrocercus_), and makes its flesh bitter and unpleasant. The Pheasant scratches in the ground for provender, as do Turkeys and Fowls, while _Lophophorus_, _Catreus_, _Crossoptilon_, _Gennaeus_, _Pavo_, and so forth, dig for roots with the bill. American Grouse, after eating _Kalmia_ shoots, are actually poisonous.

Pugnacious habits are prevalent in the Family, and naturally attain their height in the courting season; but chief of all in this connection is the genus _Gallus_, which will fight at any time of year, being highly valued by the boatmen of Burma for the sport it provides. These wanderers commonly keep a cock tied by the leg in their vessels, or possess a decoy-bird to attract its wild relatives. Game-birds are easily naturalized or domesticated owing to their terrestrial habits; they hybridize readily even in a state of nature, the offspring being often fertile; such species, moreover, as the Pheasant, Partridge, and Red-legged Partridge will frequently use a nest in common. Occasionally the female assumes a plumage like that of the male; for example, in the Pheasant, where such individuals are called "Mules," and are stated to be barren. Further questions of great interest are the moult, the Grouse disease, the shedding of the claws in the Ptarmigan, and of the horny fringes of the toes in the {204}Tetraoninae generally, besides such points as the loss of the Peacock's train in summer, and the innumerable phases of plumage of the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, and "Bob-white" (_Ortyx_), none of which can be usefully discussed in a limited space.

The range of the Family is nearly cosmopolitan; but the Meleagrinae only occur in the United States and Central America; the Numidinae in Africa, with Madagascar and the neighbouring islands; and the Phasianinae in the Palaearctic and Indian Regions as far eastward as the Philippines, China and Japan, and–in the case of _Gallus_–Celebes. The Perdicinae are found in the Palaearctic, Indian and Australian Regions, though becoming decidedly scarce in Oceania; the Odontophorinae occupy temperate and tropical America to Bolivia and Brazil southwards; while the Tetraoninae are holarctic, the New World genera being more numerous than those of the Old World, and _Lagopus_ alone being common to both hemispheres.

Sub-fam. 1. _Numidinae._–Of the curious-looking Guinea-fowls, or Pintados, _Acryllium vulturinum_ of East Africa has a long, wedge-shaped tail, and elongated hackles on the mantle, chest, and lower neck; the upper neck and head being naked and blue, with a crescentic nuchal band of short chestnut feathers, and each metatarsus possessing four or five knobs in the male. The hackles are black and white, mostly fringed with blue; the remaining upper parts and the flanks are black spotted with white, having a purple wash on the latter; the breast and belly are cobalt, marked with black centrally. _Guttera_ contains four black species with light blue spots, which show much white on the secondaries. A full and usually curly black crest adorns the crown; the bare head and neck, with its posterior flap of skin, is blue or purplish, and the throat is red, except in _G. pucherani_ of East Equatorial Africa, where the hind-neck only is blue, and _G. eduardi_ (_verreauxi_) of South Africa, with no bright colours on the head, neck, or throat. The latter, and _G. cristata_ of northern West Africa, have rudimentary blue wattles at the gape, coupled with a black collar, which in _G. eduardi_ extends to the breast and assumes a chestnut shade. _G. plumifera_, ranging from Cape Lopez to Loango, has larger wattles and a thin erect crest; _G. pucherani_ has the outgrowths red. This genus and the next have no spurs. _Numida_, remarkable for the bony casque surmounting the naked head and neck, possesses seven or more members of clumsy build, with {205}white spots on the black plumage. _N. meleagris_ of West Africa and several of its islands, introduced in Ascension and the Greater Antilles, which is the origin of our present domestic stock, has the broad gape-wattles and bare tracts red, save for a blue hind-neck; the small conical helmet is yellowish, and a wide grey ring divides the neck from the body. _N. coronata_ of eastern South Africa, _N. reichenowi_ of East Africa, _N. cornuta_ of western South Africa, _N. marungensis_, found from Benguela to Tanganyika, _N. mitrata_ of East Africa, Madagascar, and the islands in the vicinity, and _N. ptilorhyncha_ of North-East Africa, lack the collar and differ from each other in the shape of the large helmet, which may be upright or inclined backwards. _N. ptilorhyncha_ has the naked parts blue, and a bunch of horn-coloured bristles at the base of the maxilla; _N. coronata_, _N. mitrata_, and _N. reichenowi_ have a reddish casque, a scarlet top to the head, and blue cheeks and neck; the wattles being red in the last, but blue tipped with red in the first two, as in _N. cornuta_, where the helmet is vermilion. _N. marungensis_ has a stouter, shorter helmet than _N. coronata_, which it much resembles. _Agelastes meleagrides_ of West Africa is black vermiculated with whitish, and has a zone of white feathers at the base of the neck; the bare skin of the head is red, of the neck white. The male has a strong spur on each metatarsus, as has _Phasidus niger_, ranging from Cape Lopez to Loango, which is brownish-black with a band of feathers from the base of the bill to the occiput; the naked head is in this case yellow, becoming orange on the neck.

As regards habits, _Numida meleagris_ may represent the group. This wild suspicious bird is found in flocks of a dozen or even a hundred, not invariably of its own species, which frequent thick bushes, tall grass, or rocky river-sides; it runs swiftly and with perfect ease, occasionally travelling twenty miles a day; while, though the short wings and heavy body preclude extended flights, it travels with considerable power. When disturbed it usually seeks the trees, in which it roosts at night, and under which it shelters from the sun. The food consists of grass, seeds, roots, bulbs, berries, and insects, the ground being often torn up in the search; the noisy cry is hoarse and discordant, or sharp and metallic; the nest is a depression with little or no lining, placed in or under a tussock, and contains from twelve to twenty yellowish eggs with undecided {206}rusty spotting. _Phasidus_ is not gregarious. The rock-loving _Numida ptilorhyncha_ attains an altitude of nine thousand feet.

Sub-fam. 2. _Meleagrinae._–Of the Turkeys,[153] there are only two species, _Meleagris gallipavo_ and _M. ocellata_. The former has three races–distinguished by the tail and its upper coverts being tipped with white, buff, and chestnut respectively–the united range extending from Southern Canada to Mexico through the Eastern and South-Western States. They are coppery-bronze, with purplish-green and golden sheen and black markings; the remiges being brown barred with white, and the tail black and brown with broad dark sub-terminal band. The reddish head and neck are nearly bare, shewing wrinkled warty skin and a pendent erectile process on the forehead; a bunch of long black bristles decorates the chest of the male, which has a stout spur on each metatarsus. The bill and feet are red. _M. ocellata_ of Yucatan, British Honduras, and Guatemala, has black plumage, tipped with brassy-green, and fringed with greenish-copper, that becomes redder below; the rump region is steel-blue, and brilliant ocelli of green-blue margined with copper mark the ends of the greyish rectrices and their coverts. The frontal caruncle and the head are blue, with red tip and excrescences respectively, while the pectoral tuft is absent.

The wild Turkey is wary and extremely quick of foot, spending the day chiefly upon the ground and roosting high in the trees; it frequents wooded country, and feeds upon plants, seeds, nuts and other fruits, with lizards and insects. In spring the males fight viciously, and show off before the assembled hens; strutting around with erect, outspread tails and drooping wings, while uttering puffing and gobbling noises. Each cock having secured a mate or two, breeding takes place, after which the sexes separate, but combine again in autumn and wander widely in search of food. A hole, scraped under some log or tuft of herbage, and lined with dry leaves, receives the yellowish-white eggs with red-brown spots; the number varying from ten to eighteen, or even more if several hens co-operate.

Sub-fam. 3. _Phasianinae._–Among these a detailed description is unnecessary of the fine blue, green, and rufous plumage of the Peacock (_Pavo cristatus_), or of the green, purple, copper, and gold ocelli {207}on its elongated train of erectile tail-coverts; but other striking points are the bare-shafted crest and naked white face; while the comparatively dull-coloured Pea-hen lacks the train of the male and the spur on each metatarsus. In the wild state these birds are shy, and run

## particularly fast, while they occasionally fly in small flocks; they

inhabit the hill-forests or ravines near water-courses in India and Ceylon, roosting in large trees, making a slight nest on the ground, ruined buildings, or more rarely branches, and laying from four to about ten yellowish or reddish eggs, sometimes faintly spotted with rufous. The cry is a harsh mewing squeal, or a "cok-cok-cok" when flushed; the food resembles that of the Turkey, but is at times varied by fish or flesh; and, as in that bird, the males are said to dance or strut around when courting, each securing three or four consorts. Peafowl are supposed to indicate the proximity of tigers, and are sacred to various Indian castes, while foolish superstition considers the eyed feathers unlucky! Introduced to England at some very early date, they were formerly thought a great delicacy for the table. _P. nigripennis_, the "Japanned Peacock," is a species, or perhaps variety, with deep blue wing-coverts and other slighter differences, the female being almost entirely greyish-white; _P. muticus_, a valid species from the Indo-Chinese countries and Java, is distinguished by the golden-green neck and chest and the blue and yellow skin of the face; the crest feathers being here fully webbed.

_Argusianus argus_, the Argus Pheasant, has a short black crest; black, rufous, and buff plumage with white barring on the nape and tail-coverts; and enormously developed secondaries and median rectrices, covered respectively with large reddish-yellow and small white ocelli, which are margined with black; the naked cheeks and throat are blue, the bill is bluish-white, the feet are red. It inhabits the forests of the Indo-Malay mainland and Sumatra, the cock being said only to meet the hens occasionally, and to reserve an open spot for courting purposes, where he shows himself off by dancing before them with the tail and secondaries expanded into a large fan. This bird flies little, but runs with celerity, having a loud cry, feeding on vegetable matter and insects, nesting like the Pea-fowl, and laying similar eggs. _A. grayi_ of Borneo shows white on the mantle and much red on the breast, _A. bipunctatus_ is only known from an imperfect primary. The females lack the ocelli and elongated tail. _A._ {208}(_Rheinardtius_) _ocellatus_, of the Tonkin highlands, is brown with reddish markings and minute white dots; it has a hairy occipital crest, and exhibits fine red spots, with black white-eyed central rings, on the very long median rectrices and their upper coverts.

In _Polyplectron_ (Peacock-Pheasant) the male has two or even three spurs on the metatarsus. _P. chinquis_ of the Indo-Chinese countries is brown, with whitish dots above and mottlings below; the head is black and white with naked yellowish sides; the upper plumage is adorned with large, round, metallic, purple-green ocelli, ringed successively with black, brown, and buff, of which the tail and its upper-coverts exhibit one on each web. _P. germaini_ of Cochin China has close-set light brown specks above, and a red face; _P. bicalcaratum_ of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra has the latter similarly coloured, with black and buff upper surface, a narrow purplish crest, and lateral rectrices with an "eye" only on the outer web; _P. schleiermacheri_ of Borneo has the crest curled forward, and blackish under parts with a white median band; whereas _P. nehrkornae_ of Paláwan, and the doubtfully distinct _P. napoleonis_, are entirely black below. As regards the duller females, _P. chinquis_ and _P. germaini_ have obscure ocelli on both webs of the lateral tail-feathers, the other species on the outer web only; moreover, _P. chinquis_, _P. schleiermacheri_, and _P. nehrkornae_ have none on the tail-coverts, the latter lacking the black blotches on the mantle found in _P. bicalcaratum_ and _P. schleiermacheri_. _P._ (_Chalcurus_) _inocellatus_ of Sumatra is brown and buff, with purple and black tints on the tail. Little is known of the habits, except in _P. chinquis_, which is apparently monogamous, and frequents thick hill-forests up to an altitude of five thousand feet. It feeds like the Peafowl, has a fine whistling call varied by a soft cluck, and will take refuge in trees, though preferring to escape on foot. The cock carries his outspread tail on one side, while the hen uses hers to shelter the young. The fairly substantial nest of twigs and leaves, usually containing two brownish eggs, is placed on the ground.

Of the four species of _Gallus_, _G. ferrugineus_ (_bankiva_), the Red Jungle-fowl–Bhund Moorg of the natives of India–shewing much resemblance to the "Black-breasted Game" breed, is the origin of our domestic stock.[154] It has a vaulted tail with long drooping median feathers, a serrated red comb, naked red face and throat, {209}with a wattle on each side of the latter, a spur on each metatarsus, and ear-lappets, which are whitish in Indian examples, but red in Burmese and Malay. The crown and the hackles of the mantle and rump are orange-red, the back is chiefly purplish-red, and the wings, tail, and under parts are glossy greenish-black, with yellowish outer margins to the primaries and brownish to the secondaries. Between June and September the hackles and long tail plumes are replaced by short black feathers. The hen has little comb, no wattles, spurs, or elongated rectrices; the crown is reddish and the mantle yellowish, both with black stripes; the wing- and tail-quills are brown and rufous; the remaining plumage being reddish-brown, deeper on the fore-neck and brighter on the chest, with black mottling above. This Jungle-fowl ranges from North-Eastern and Central India to Hainan, and from Sumatra to the Philippines, Celebes, and Timor; frequenting thickets and forests up to five thousand feet, but often flocking to cultivated country, where it feeds upon leaves, seeds, insects, and especially grain. Pugnacious towards its kin[155] it is timid with man, running with great speed or taking refuge in trees; the flight consists of alternate periods of flapping and sailing, while the cluck of the hen and the crow of the cock resemble those of domestic fowls, though the latter is less prolonged. The nest is a hole lined with leaves, grass, or plant-stems, containing from seven to twelve buff eggs; polygamy being apparently rare. _G. sonnerati_, the Grey Jungle-fowl of Southern, Central, and Western India, is distinguishable by the dilated shafts of the neck-hackles, with their wax-like yellow tips or spangles; _G. lafayettii_ (_stanleyi_) of Ceylon by the yellow comb with red margin, and the red breast. The former utters a broken crow, the latter a double note, the eggs in both cases being spotted, and occasionally whitish in ground-colour. _G. varius_ of Java, Lombok, and Flores, is greener, with truncated neck-feathers, an unserrated comb, and a single median wattle of red, yellow, and blue-green. The hens of _G. sonnerati_ and _G. lafayettii_ have white breast-plumage, barred and fringed with black, the former shewing black mottlings instead of bars on the secondaries; that of _G. varius_ has a buff breast and a blackish back. In these three species crosses with domestic fowls are said to be usually sterile.

_Chrysolophus pictus_, the brilliant Golden Pheasant, has the {210}crown and full recumbent hair-like crest golden, the fine erectile cape of truncated nape-plumes orange with blue-black bars, the mantle dark green and purple, the rump golden, the primaries brownish, the secondaries purplish with chestnut and black coverts, the larger tail-coverts and the vaulted tail with its two very long median rectrices black, with brown spots or stripes, the scapulars and under parts scarlet, and the cheeks and throat rufous. There are generally two spurs on each metatarsus, and the bare orbits are yellowish. The female is brown, relieved by black and buff, and has a shorter tail, no crest or cape. This bird, difficult to naturalize in Britain, but easily domesticated, inhabits wooded mountains in South and West China and East Tibet, meeting in the last two countries the equally beautiful Lady Amherst's Pheasant (_C. amherstiae_), which has dark green crown, mantle, throat, and chest, blood-red crest, white cape with blue-black bars, black and buff rump, glossy green and brown wings, white breast and abdomen, and black and white tail with scarlet and orange tips to the coverts. The orbits are blue in both sexes, the female being otherwise as in _C. pictus_.

The original Pheasant of Britain–probably introduced by the Romans–was _Phasianus colchicus_, ranging from the Caspian to South-East Europe; but the Ring-necked species (_P. torquatus_) of Manchuria, East Mongolia, Corea, Tsu-sima, and Eastern China, imported towards the end of last century, has interbred with it so freely that typical examples are now exceptional. The latter form has a white collar and slaty lower back with dark green barring; while the former has the rump feathers buff, with black mottlings and purplish-red tips. The females, hardly separable from one another, lack the red face-wattles, the long ear-tufts, and the pair of spurs of the male. The above-mentioned colour of the lower back and the comparatively broad black basal tail-bands, are the distinguishing points of a section, which comprises _P. torquatus_, _P. elegans_ of West China, _P. vlangali_ of Tsaidam, _P. strauchi_ of Kansu, _P. decollatus_ of Western and Central China, _P. satscheunensis_ of Sa-tscheu, _P. formosanus_ of Formosa, and _P. versicolor_ of Japan. Another section, more akin to _P. colchicus_, contains _P. tarimensis_ and _P. zerafshanicus_ of the Tarim and Zerafshan Valleys, _P. persicus_ of Persia and Transcaspia, _P. principalis_ of North-East Persia and North-West Afghanistan, _P. shawi_ of East Turkestan, _P. chrysomelas_ of the Amu-Darya, and {211}_P. mongolicus_, extending from the Syr-Daria to Mongolia. All these races have the crown greenish, and differ chiefly in the colour of the scapulars, breast, rump, and abdomen; a white collar occurring in _P. torquatus_, _P. mongolicus_, _P. satscheunensis_, and _P. formosanus_, while _P. versicolor_ is green below. Where two forms meet hybrids are not uncommon. In _P. soemmerringi_ of Japan, _P. ellioti_ of South-East China, and _P. humiae_ of Manipur and Upper Burma the crown is red-brown, the first species having the lower back maroon with gold reflexions, the two others a black and white rump, with white and chestnut belly respectively. _P. reevesi_ of North and West China has the crown white encircled by black, the nape and throat white with a subjacent black collar, the remaining upper parts yellowish-red and black, with white and rufous on the wings, the breast black, white, and chestnut, the abdomen black, the tail is extremely long.

[Illustration: FIG. 46.–Pheasant. _Phasianus colchicus._ × ⅐.]

{212}Space is wanting to describe the various females, or to discuss the sport that Pheasants afford; but the swift flight, the powers of foot, the polygamous and pugnacious habits, the olive-coloured eggs, and the immense numbers reared artificially, must be noticed.[156] _P. reevesi_, Reeves's Pheasant, _P. versicolor_, the Green Pheasant, and _P. soemmerringi_, the Copper Pheasant, have also been introduced into Britain, the two latter and _P. torquatus_ into Oregon, _P. colchicus_ into the Eastern United States; New Zealand has received both _P. colchicus_ and _P. torquatus_, St. Helena and Ascension _P. torquatus_ only–the former island as early as 1513.

_Catreus wallichi_ of the Himalayas has a brown head with fine white-tipped crest; a grey neck, yellowish and whitish upper parts, black and buff primaries, and a rufous rump, all with black barring; the under surface is light buff with black marks, the naked orbits are red. The male has a pair of spurs and very long median rectrices; the female being brown mottled with black and buff, having a smaller crest, a shorter tail, and at times rudimentary spurs. Considerable flocks frequent the grassy forest-hills up to an altitude of eight thousand feet, lying very closely in the day-time, though running with great speed when disturbed, and flying heavily for a short way; they feed towards evening on roots, seeds, berries, grubs, and insects, reiterating the peculiar call, whence they are named Cheer. The slight nest, generally sheltered by a bush or tussock at the base of a hill, contains from nine to fourteen whitish or pale drab eggs, sometimes sparingly spotted with red-brown.

_Pucrasia_ contains six species or local races of "Pukras" or Koklas Pheasants, with long, black, erectile ear-tufts in the male, which has a spur on each metatarsus, but no naked cheeks. _P. macrolopha_ of the Western Himalayas has a well-developed buff crest, a greenish-black head and neck with a white patch on each side of the latter, grey upper parts and whitish flanks with black shaft-stripes, brownish wings marked with buff, chestnut under parts and median feathers of the elongated, wedge-shaped tail, and blackish lateral rectrices with white tips. The black and rufous hen has a white throat, a short crest, and no ear-tufts or spurs. _P. castanea_ of North Afghanistan and Kafiristan has the mantle chestnut, _P. nipalensis_ of the Central Himalayas black varied by grey and reddish; _P. meyeri_ of South Tibet and the {213}Upper Mekong possesses a yellow nuchal collar; _P. darwini_ of East China has grey bases to the outer tail-feathers; _P. xanthospila_ exhibiting both. These monogamous birds attain a somewhat higher elevation than the Cheer, and utter a loud, deep crow; but otherwise the habits are the same. The five to nine pointed eggs are buff, speckled or blotched with red-brown.

_Gennaeus_[157] has a long vaulted tail, a fine crest, naked sides to the face covered with red skin or wattles, and metatarsi with a single spur in the male. In _G. albicristatus_ of the Western Himalayas the crest is white, the head and upper parts being black with purple and blue reflexions and white margins to the dorsal feathers, the primaries and abdomen brown, and the breast whitish. The female is reddish-brown, with delicate black markings on the grey-margined upper feathers, and shews white below and on the wing-coverts. _G. leucomelanus_, with blue-black crest, inhabits Nepal; _G. muthura_ (_melanotus_), without white on the lower back, occurs in Sikkim and Bhutan; _G. horsfieldi_, with black breast, extending from East Bhutan to North Arakan and Upper Burma. All the above species have the tail black, or rarely vermiculated with white; but in _G. lineatus_ of Burma, Siam, and Tenasserim, and the very similar _G. andersoni_ of Upper Burma and West Yunnan, it is banded alternately with black and white, and the median rectrices are even whiter. _G. edwardsi_ inhabits Annam. _G. nycthemerus_, the Silver Pheasant of South China, embroidered as a badge on mandarins' dresses, and introduced into England early in last century, has an extremely long white tail, obliquely marked with black on the lateral feathers, a purplish-black crown, crest and lower surface, white back of the neck and upper parts with crescentic black lines on the latter, and naked red face. _G. swinhoii_ of Formosa is easily distinguished from its allies by the bronzy-crimson scapulars, white crest, upper back, and median rectrices; the remaining plumage being bluish- or purplish-black with a glossy dark green band upon the wing. The female is mottled with rufous, black, and buff, and has a short crest, while that sex of the Silver Pheasant is browner, and exhibits white on the outer tail-feathers. These "Kalleges"–a name strictly applicable to the first four species only–frequent thin forests in low valleys, and are but slightly gregarious; they perch on trees, and {214}fly short distances when flushed; the note is a shrill crow, a whistling chuckle or a "chirrup;" the food is as usual in Pheasants. The pugnacious male is said to strut with outspread tail, and to drum with his wings while courting; the nest, formed of dry herbage in a depression of the soil, contains from nine to fourteen creamy or reddish-buff eggs.

The "Eared" or Snow-Pheasants (_Crossoptilon_) have a vaulted tail with decomposed webs to the long decurved median feathers, fine white ear-tufts, and lax hairy plumage, shorter and curled on the crown. The naked papillose cheeks and the metatarsi are red, with a pair of stout spurs on the latter in the male. _C. tibetanum_ of West China and East Tibet is white, with black crown, dark brown remiges, and greenish- or purplish-black rectrices. _C. leucurum_ of East Tibet has the tail white with blue-black tip, as has _C. manchuricum_ of Manchuria and North China, in which the mantle, nape, and breast are blackish-brown, with a faint white band between the ear-coverts, found also in _C. auritum_ of West China and Koko-Nor, and well defined in _C. harmani_ of Tibet. The last two have the nape, back, and under parts grey-blue. These elegant birds haunt lofty mountain-woods until cold weather comes on; they are comparatively tame, feed on leaves, shoots, roots, fruit, worms, and insects, and lay–at least in the case of _C. manchuricum_–from twelve to sixteen drab eggs. The plumes are worn by Tartar and Chinese warriors.

_Lobiophasis bulweri_ of Borneo is a splendid bird with maroon nuchal collar and chest, brown remiges, white tail, and black plumage elsewhere with blue margins to most of the feathers. The stiff spine-pointed rectrices number twenty-eight in the hen and no less than thirty-two in the cock, the whole tail being compressed and the median plumes decurved; in the male the skin of the naked front of the head is blue, as are two caruncles present behind the ears, two smaller processes on the lores, and two wattles at the gape. The rufous, buff, and black female has only the sides of the face bare, with diminutive lateral wattles on the throat. This species skulks in the jungles, and prefers running to flying, having many of the habits of a fowl, though ranging up to two thousand feet; the eggs are stone-coloured.

The magnificent Firebacks (_Lophura_) have, so far as is known, similar habits to the members of _Gennaeus_, though they are stronger on the wing, and utter mellower notes in their forest retreats; {215}the tail is vaulted, the cheeks exhibit patches of rugose blue skin–red in _L. diardi_–while the male has a pair of spurs and an erect crest with bare-shafted plumes. _L. nobilis_ of Borneo is purplish-blue with fiery chestnut rump-region, golden lower breast, black head, throat, and wings, the four median rectrices being entirely buff and the lateral black with buff markings; _L. vieilloti_ of Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra has the lower breast black, and the two middle rectrices white, _L. ignita_ of China differing in its chestnut-spotted flanks; _L. diardi_ (_praelata_) of Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin China has a grey and black mantle, neck, and breast, a golden buff lower back, and crimson-tipped rump-feathers. The females have the mantle red-brown or chestnut, and outer rectrices of the latter colour in _L. vieilloti_, but black in _L. nobilis_; in _L. diardi_ the black wing-coverts have wide buff bars. This sex of _L. ignita_ seems to be unknown. _Acomus_ has naked cheeks, but no crest or wattles; the tail is vaulted, and a pair of spurs is found in both sexes. _A. erythrophthalmus_ of the southern Malay Peninsula and Sumatra is chiefly purplish- or bluish-black with fiery golden lower back, rich buff tail, and white wing-markings; _A. pyronotus_ of Borneo exhibits white shaft-stripes on the breast; _A. inornatus_ of West Sumatra, of which the male only has been discovered, has black plumage margined with dark blue-green, therein somewhat resembling the hens of its congeners, which are black glossed with purplish-blue. In habits this genus apparently resembles _Lophura_.

_Lophophorus_ contains four gorgeous species of almost unsurpassable brilliancy, among which the Monal, constantly misnamed the Impeyan Pheasant, is best known. The tail is rounded, each metatarsus is provided with a spur in the male, and bare blue skin surrounds the eye. The Himalayan Monal (_L. refulgens_) has a crest like that of the Peacock, uniform in colour with the purplish-green head; the neck is purple, coppery, and green, the mantle golden-green, the lower back white, and the tail chestnut; the wing- and tail-coverts being green or purple with blue and green reflexions, the under parts black, and the remiges dusky. Its habits differ somewhat from those of other Pheasants, a preference being shown for grassy hill-forests not far from the snow-line; it roosts in trees, though generally found on the ground during the day, and is not very wild, trusting to its speed of foot in open spots, but readily taking to wing in the {216}woodlands. The flight is rapid and powerful, while the male is said to soar without perceptible movement of the pinions; the usual cry is a loud melancholy whistle. The long stout beak serves to dig up roots for food; but grain, fruit, grass, and insect-larvae are also eaten. The nest, or sheltered unlined excavation in the soil, contains from four to six oval cream-coloured eggs, closely spotted or blotched with reddish-brown. The cocks are reported to be non-pugnacious, and the hens semi-gregarious while breeding. _L. impeyanus_ of South Kashmir, the true Impeyan Pheasant, differs in its golden-green lower back and under parts; _L. l'huysi_ of Sze-chuen and Koko-Nor has an ordinary crest, and white spots on the blue, green, and black tail; _L. sclateri_ of North-East Assam has a curly crown with no crest, and white-tipped rectrices; the two latter forms being black beneath and white on the lower back. The slightly-crested females are black, buff, and white; the lower back is black and buff in _L. refulgens_, whitish mottled with brown in _L. sclateri_, and white in _L. l'huysi_.

Of Tragopan (_Ceriornis_) there are five species, remarkable for the fleshy blue horn above each eye and the large gular wattle in the male, who erects the former and inflates the latter when courting. The fore-part of the head and throat are naked or merely hairy, while the crested cock-bird possesses a pair of short spurs, rarely present in his mate. _C. satyrus_, the Horned Pheasant of the Central and Eastern Himalayas, has the crown and throat black, the occiput, neck, and lower parts orange-red with stiff chest-plumes, the back brown, the remiges and rectrices black and buff. Most of the body-feathers exhibit black-margined white spots, and the outer wing-coverts additional red marks; while the wattle is orange barred with blue. _C. melanocephalus_ of the Western Himalayas has a longer crest tipped with red, none of that colour on the occiput, the breast black and red, and a purple wattle with flesh-coloured sides, blue margin and spots. _C. temmincki_ of Central and South-West China has the crest and under parts red, the wattle blue barred marginally with red, and the characteristic spots grey without black rings. _C. blythi_ of North-East Assam and Manipur has the wattle yellow tinged with blue, and a plain grey breast; whereas _C. caboti_ of South-East China has the latter region buff. The hens are black and buff with whitish spots. These shy solitary birds occupy the higher hill-forests, being apparently {217}monogamous, though found in small companies at times; they run slowly, take refuge in trees, and fly with a whirring sound. They roost aloft, but feed constantly upon the ground, eating grubs, insects, roots, flowers, fruits, and especially seeds or herbage; the note is a deep monotonous "bellowing" or "wailing sound." The fleshy excrescences are said to be chiefly developed in the breeding season, when the male, who possibly assists in incubation, struts before his consort like a Turkey. A nest is sometimes formed of twigs, grass, and feathers to contain the seven or eight whitish eggs with dull lilac spots or red freckles. Tragopans are mistakenly termed "Argus" by sportsmen in India.

[Illustration: FIG. 47.–Cabot's Tragopan. _Ceriornis caboti._ × ⅙. (From _Nature_.)]

In _Ithagenes_, or Blood-Pheasant, the bill is short and stout, the tail fairly long and rounded, the plumage soft and acuminate; the orbits are naked and red, and each metatarsus is armed with two or more spurs, generally absent in the female. _I. cruentus_ of the Eastern Himalayas and Tibet has a full buff crest, black forehead and lores, lead-coloured back and wings, brownish remiges and rectrices with white tips to the latter, and a green {218}wash on the wing-coverts and rump. The cheeks, throat, and much of the upper and under tail-coverts are crimson, the breast is yellow-green with crimson streaks. _I. geoffroyi_ of East Tibet and West China has a grey head and throat; _I. sinensis_ of Mongolia and North China is similar, with rufous for green on the wing-coverts. Females are grey, brown, and buff. Found in flocks of twenty or thirty at altitudes between ten and fourteen thousand feet, these bold birds have limited powers of flight, great speed of foot, and a weak cackling note; they bury themselves occasionally in the snow, as do certain Grouse (p. 238), and feed on grass, insects, berries, and shoots of juniper or pine.

If a Sub-family _Perdicinae_ be admitted, it may be commenced[158] with the little known _Ophrysia superciliosa_ of North-West India, a soft-plumaged greyish-brown species with black and white markings on the head; next to which comes _Galloperdix_, the Spur-Fowl, with a large bare eye-space, and two or three spurs on each foot in the male, reduced to a single pair in the female. _G. spadicea_ of India, which has been introduced into Madagascar, has a brown crown, and chestnut plumage elsewhere, with grey margins to the feathers, and black vermiculations on the wing-coverts and rump; the female being mottled with black. _G. lunulata_, another Indian form, has the crown black with white streaks, the breast buff with black spots, and black-ringed white ocelli on the mantle; _G. bicalcarata_ of Ceylon has both mantle and crown black with white stripes, and the breast whiter. These birds frequent thick jungles near the coast, or hills up to seven thousand feet, and are extremely wild, though hard to flush; they resort to trees in emergencies, and roost in them at night; the note is a harsh or plaintive whistle; the food consists of grain, insects, and their larvae. Four, five, or even ten whitish or buff eggs are deposited on a few dry leaves below some sheltering shrub. The cocks are stated to fight as viciously as Jungle-Fowl. _Bambusicola fytchii_, the Bamboo-Partridge, found from North-East India to China, has the crown and ear-coverts red-brown; the upper parts olive-brown, varied in places with black and buff, and longitudinally marked with chestnut, except towards the rump; the wing- and tail-quills reddish mottled with buff; the superciliary stripe, throat, {219}and breast buff, the chest brown with chestnut and white blotches, the flanks spotted with black. _B. thoracica_ of South China and _B. sonorivox_ of Formosa have grey superciliary stripes, and the latter grey ear-coverts. The females only differ from the males in rarely possessing a pair of spurs. These species do not form coveys, but haunt long grass and bamboo-thickets on the hills, being difficult to put up, and uttering screaming noises; they readily challenge their neighbours to fight, roost in trees, and lay from seven to twelve creamy-brown eggs under shelter of a tussock or bush. _Ptilopachys fuscus_ of the northern Ethiopian Region has brown plumage with white margins, and vermiculations or darker barring in many parts, the mid-breast being buff and the naked orbits red. The sexes are similar. Small parties or pairs frequent rocky hill-sides up to nine thousand feet, and are very pugnacious; they carry the tail folded, as do domestic fowls, have a sharp call-note and lay whitish eggs.

In _Excalphatoria_ the short tail of eight soft feathers is entirely hidden by the coverts. _E. sinensis_, the Chinese or Painted Quail, the smallest of the Phasianidae, is brown above with black marking and rufous streaks, a bluish shade appearing in places, and chestnut patches shewing on the wing-coverts; the throat and sides of the neck are black and white, the black forming a central patch below the chin; the remaining lower parts are slate-blue with a median chestnut patch on the breast. It is found from India and Ceylon to Formosa, and in Celebes; a darker race occupying the Philippines, many of the Malay Islands, and Australia. _E. lepida_ of New Britain, New Ireland, and the Duke of York Islands has no chestnut on the wing, and little below; _E. adansoni_, of Africa south of lat. 5° N., is slaty-brown above, and has chestnut scapulars, wing- and tail-coverts with grey shaft-stripes. The females have white throats and rufous breasts barred with black. The Australian form, or Least Swamp-Quail, abounds in marshes, the Indian frequents dry ground as well, the coveys being composed of single broods, which feed mainly upon seeds. The flight is very brief, the nest a mere pad of grass, on which lie five or six olive-drab eggs, scantily spotted with purple or red-brown. _Synoecus australis_, the Swamp-Quail of Australia, Tasmania, and South-East New Guinea, is reddish-brown and grey above, with more or less distinct black mottlings; the throat is whitish, the under {220}surface is buff, with black chevrons in younger birds. The female lacks the grey tints, and is more coarsely barred with black. Gould describes the habits and call as resembling those of the Common Partridge, but they are better exemplified by those of _Excalphatoria_, while the eggs vary from ten to fourteen, and are creamy or greenish-white, generally closely freckled with brown. _S. raalteni_ of Timor and Flores has a rufous throat.

Of the true Quails six species may be admitted. _Coturnix communis_, the Common Quail, though essentially a migrant in the north, ranges throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, and breeds not uncommonly in Britain, having also been introduced into the Eastern United States; while another African race (_C. capensis_ auctt.) only differs in its reddish throat. The crown is dark brown with a light streak down the centre and above each eye; the upper parts are brown and black with buff longitudinal stripes, becoming mottlings on the remiges; the throat is white with a black median patch connected with the ear-coverts by two upcurved lines: the breast is reddish-buff, the abdomen yellowish-white, the flanks are mottled or barred with brown. The short tail of ten or twelve feathers lies entirely below the coverts. The hen-bird has black pectoral spots and a perfectly white throat. _C. japonica_ of East Asia and Japan, occasionally found in Bhutan and Burma, has a plain brick-red throat, the sides of which and the chin exhibit lanceolate feathers in the female. Hybrids between this species and the Common Quail occur where their ranges overlap; individuals, moreover, present great variation. _C. coromandelica_ of India and the Burmese countries, _C. delegorguii_ of the Ethiopian Region, _C. pectoralis_ of Australia and Tasmania, and the nearly extinct _C. novae zealandiae_ of New Zealand, have the outer webs of the primaries uniform brown in both sexes; the males of the first two have the throat as in _C. communis_, with a black patch on the breast, and buff and chestnut under parts respectively; the third has the throat plain brick-coloured; and the fourth still brighter red. The females have no throat-mark, the hen of _C. delegorguii_ being blackish-brown above, and that of _C. pectoralis_ shewing black chest-bands, which in _C. novae zealandiae_ cover most of the feathers. That Quails can traverse long distances is evidenced by the migration of large flocks in spring and autumn; but, as a rule, their flight is short, and they rise with great reluctance, though with considerable {221}velocity. The trisyllabic note of the male is rendered "wet-my-lips" by country-folk; the food consists of seeds, slugs, and insects, sought among the grassy flats in general frequented. From seven to fifteen yellowish or white eggs, with dark brown blotches or marblings, are deposited in a hollow lined with bits of herbage, in standing corn or grass, the hen sitting very closely and feigning lameness to draw attention from the young. The male appears to be usually monogamous, while the broods or "bevies" do not form coveys. Two of these broods are said to be occasionally reared in a season, but how far such statements are due to the destruction of the first complement of eggs must remain doubtful, as in the case of so many other birds that breed on the ground.[159]

_Melanoperdix nigra_, of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra, is glossy black with browner primaries, the female being chestnut, with black markings and a whitish chin. It inhabits the lowlands and lays five eggs. _Rollulus roulroul_ is a most remarkable form with a frontal tuft of long black bristles. In the male the fore-part of the head is black, separated by a white band from the full hairy crest of maroon, which covers the occiput; the upper parts are dark green glossed with blue, the wing-coverts being maroon, and the quills brown and buff. The tail and under parts are black, a blue tint shewing on the breast; the base of the black bill, the feet, and the naked orbits are scarlet. The female has a blackish head with moderate crest, a grass-green body with chestnut wing-coverts edged with maroon, and a black bill. These birds inhabit the dense forests of the Malay Peninsula, Tenasserim, Siam, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, up to an altitude of a few thousand feet; they hunt in small parties for seeds, berries, and insects, are very shy, quick of movement and hard to flush, and utter a mellow whistle. _Caloperdix oculea_ of similar range to _Rollulus_–unless we separate _C. borneensis_ with more chestnut throat–has the crown, neck, and under parts rufous-chestnut, the back and tail black with crescentic white anterior and reddish posterior markings, the wing-coverts brown with round black spots, the quills brown and buff, the face and throat buff, a white supra-aural stripe, and black flanks with whitish bars. The male is only distinguished by possessing a pair or two of spurs. This bird haunts dense uninhabited forests, and eats insects, seeds, and berries. _Haematortyx {222}sanguiniceps_, of the mountain-forests of Northern Borneo, is brownish-black; the slightly-crested head, the throat, upper breast and under tail-coverts being crimson with black tips to the last-named, and the metatarsi possessing three pairs of spurs. The rump-feathers have partly expanded shafts. The female has the throat rufous, the upper breast deep chestnut, and no spurs. _Arboricola_ contains nearly twenty species with almost naked throats, ranging from Northern India to the Indo-Chinese countries, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Formosa. The following may be taken as examples of this genus, the sexes being usually alike. _A. torqueola_ of the Himalayas has a chestnut crown, red, black, and white nape, olive and black upper parts, varied with chestnut and buff on the wings, black cheeks, throat, fore-neck, and superciliary stripe, a white line down the sides of the throat, a white band surmounting the grey breast, and grey flanks with chestnut and white markings. In the female the crown is brown and black, the throat, cheeks, and so forth, rufous with black spots, the chest-band rusty-red. _A. ardens_ of Hainan, of which the male only is known, is easily recognised by the peculiar shining orange-scarlet patch of stiff hair-like feathers on the fore-neck. _A. javanica_ of Java has the head rufous with brownish crown, a black band surrounding the eyes and crossing the occiput, another encircling the base of the neck, joined to the former by a black line down the rust-coloured nape, and a third running from the throat to the sides of the neck. The upper parts are dark grey barred with black, the wings exhibiting chestnut and olive tints; the chest is grey; the remaining lower parts are chestnut. _A. chloropus_ of Lower Burma and Cochin China has the crown and nape brown, the superciliary stripe, throat, and lores black and white, the fore-neck buff with black spots and margin, the upper parts and chest brown and black with rufous on the wings and rump-region, the breast red, the abdomen, sides, and black-barred flanks buff. In this genus the orbital and even the gular skin is crimson or purplish, the feet are commonly red, the bill rarely so. The various species form coveys, which frequent grassy hill-jungles and wooded ravines up to more than ten thousand feet; they are usually unsuspicious, and run before an intruder, but occasionally perch in trees, and fly rapidly when forced to rise; the single whistling note is loud but mellow; the food consists of leaves, roots, berries, seeds, grubs, and molluscs; the four white eggs, {223}sometimes speckled with grey, are deposited with little or no nest, at the foot of a tree, or under a tussock among thin scrub.

_Microperdix_ and _Perdicula_, the Bush Quails of Anglo-Indians, have a blunt tubercle on each foot in the male. _M. erythrorhyncha_ of South and West India has the crown and cheeks black; a white frontal band continued down the sides of the head; brown upper parts, with round buff black-centred spots on the back, and black and buff markings on the wings and tail; a white throat bordered by black; and a grey-brown chest and rufous breast, with black spots on the former and the flanks. The bill and feet are red. In the female the crown is brown, the throat and cheeks being rufous. _M. blewitti_ of Central India is only slightly different; but _M. manipurensis_ of Manipur has a chestnut throat, becoming grey in the hen. These active Quail-like little birds haunt the lower mountain-thickets up to perhaps eight thousand feet, forming small coveys, feeding on seeds and insects, and fashioning a slight nest under some sort of cover, to contain from ten to fourteen pointed creamy-brown eggs. _Perdicula asiatica_ of India and Ceylon is brown above, with wavy black dorsal barring, and black and buff markings on the wings and tail; the superciliary stripes and throat are chestnut with whitish margins; the under parts white with black bars; the feet red. The female is uniform buff below. _P. argoondah_ of India has dull brick-red in place of the chestnut, and a whitish throat in the hen. It has been introduced into Mauritius. The habits are much as in _Microperdix_, but the nest is sometimes more elaborate, and the reddish-white or olive-coloured eggs, with possibly a few faint spots, number from five to seven. _Margaroperdix madagascariensis_ of Madagascar, imported into Mauritius and Réunion, has a black head with reddish-brown sides to the crown, a white stripe from above each eye running laterally down the neck, two others from the gape down the margin of the throat, rufous and black upper parts, with buff bars upon the wings and rump-region, and white shaft-streaks except upon the quills. The red-brown chest and black under surface are both margined with grey, and the latter is spotted with white; the flanks are chestnut, black, and white. It is called "Tro-tro," "Timpoy," or "Tsipoy" by the Malagasy, and inhabits grassy hills, flying rapidly for short distances, and laying from about fifteen to twenty eggs. Natives say that if {224}you break these eggs you cause the death of your father, if you spare them that of your mother![160]

The genus _Perdix_ contains the Common Partridge (_P. cinerea_), so valuable for purposes of food and sport, of which it is needless to describe the plumage; yet attention may be drawn to the dark chestnut horse-shoe mark on the grey breast, nearly obsolete in most adult females, and the broad ruddy bars on the sides and flanks. The hen may be invariably distinguished by wide-set buff bands on the black scapulars and adjoining wing-coverts, which in the cock are light brown with black vermiculations and chestnut blotches. The latter sex, moreover, has grey instead of brown sides to the neck.[161] Great variation is noticeable in the coloration, specimens from dry soils exhibiting the richest hues, while some are occasionally obtained with a white horse-shoe mark, and a particularly dark variety has even been denominated _Perdix montana_. Hybrids are recorded with the Red-Legged Partridge and Red Grouse, but such are quite exceptional. Unknown in Shetland, the Partridge has been introduced with moderate success into the Outer Hebrides and Orkneys; but in the Highlands of Scotland the character of the country is often unsuitable, nor is the bird very plentiful in Ireland. From Scandinavia it occurs southward to the Douro valley and Naples, though rarer in Northern Europe, and choosing higher ground than the Red-legged species in the south; eastward it reaches through Asia Minor and Persia as far as the Altai Mountains. Pairing even in February, it does not nest until about April, the numbers of individuals reared being naturally much affected by subsequent excess of wet or drought. The better the cultivation the larger the stock, though grassy heaths, gorse-coverts, tangled hedge-rows and thickets also provide excellent harbour. Very rarely do Partridges desert the open for woods, or perch in trees, though during the hot hours they shelter in fields of turnips, clover, and so forth, emerging at other times to feed on the grain, seeds, leaves, and insects found among short vegetation or stubble. Cover is naturally eschewed when wet. They often trust to their powers of foot for escape, or crouch motionless upon soil that matches their plumage, while the whirring noise with which they rise is familiar to all, as is their heavy rapid {225}flight at starting, and their easy gliding motion afterwards. The well-known crowing note is most commonly heard towards evening. The nest, a circular cavity lined with grass, is placed among short herbage, often near a road, the drab-coloured–or, exceptionally, bluish–eggs varying from nine to twenty or more in number. Both parents tend the young and employ many devices to mislead an intruder; at night the family parties roost upon the ground, and later in the year pack into larger coveys. The methods of sportsmen and poachers cannot be discussed at length in our limited space, but the general adoption of driving, instead of shooting over dogs–due to improved systems of farming–should not be left unnoticed.

_P. daürica_ (_barbata_), of Asia east of the Altai and Tian-shan Ranges, exhibits lanceolate feathers on the sides of the throat, like _Coturnix japonica_, and a black "horse-shoe" mark on the golden-buff breast; the latter part in _P. hodgsoniae_, of South Tibet and the extreme north of India, being white with wide bars and a large basal patch of black; _P. sifanica_ of North-West China and North Tibet lacks the black patch, and has less black on the sides of the head and throat. The two last-named birds reach the snow-line at about eighteen thousand feet; the first of them at least having a nest and eggs like the Common Partridge. _Rhizothera longirostris_, of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra, has long sharp curved beak and powerful whitish metatarsi, provided with a pair of stout spurs in each sex. The upper plumage is rich brown with black and buff markings; a grey shade pervades the neck and lower back, and chestnut tints the cheeks, throat, and wings; the under parts are grey, merging posteriorly into buff. The hen has a chestnut fore-neck, and is less grey above. _R. dulitensis_ of Borneo is similar.

The genus _Pternistes_ contains the naked-throated Ethiopian Francolins. _P. nudicollis_ of South Africa is brown above with black shaft-stripes, the mantle being greyer, the superciliary stripes and face black, the sides of the neck and lower parts black with white streaks. The female has a grey and rufous chest, the male a pair of sharp spurs. The bare orbits and throat are crimson, the bill and feet orange-red. _P. humboldti_ of East Africa and _P. afer_ (_rubricollis_) of western South Africa resemble the above, but have two pairs of spurs. _P. cranchi_ differs in having the neck, mantle, and under surface {226}mottled with black and white, the breast and abdomen shewing chestnut markings; in the similar _P. boehmi_ the naked throat is yellow. These two species occur west and east of Lake Tanganyika respectively; the female being less black and white above and less chestnut below in the former, while the sexes are alike in the latter. _P. swainsoni_ of South Africa is distinguishable by its rusty abdomen with black and chestnut blotches, the latter colour being absent in the hen; _P. rufipictus_ of East Equatorial Africa has white neck-feathers, margined with brown and black. _P. leucoscepus_ of North-East and the darker _P. infuscatus_ of East Africa exhibit broken stripes of brown and white down the whole body, with yellowish-red orbits and throat; the sexes are alike save for the spurs in the male. In many districts the members of this genus, as well as the Francolins proper, closely akin to them in appearance and habits, are denominated "Pheasants." They haunt grassy places and brushwood, often on hills near water; the coveys feeding in the open on bulbs, seeds, berries, and insects, and roosting upon trees, preferably those that are leafless. Flying little, but running at a great pace, they utter harsh notes in the morning and evening, and lay six or more creamy or pinkish eggs, frequently with chalky spots, in a grass-lined cavity sheltered by coarse herbage.

_Francolinus_, inclusive of _Ortygornis_, _Scleroptila_, _Chaetopus_, and _Clamator_ of some writers, contains forty or more species, ranging over the Ethiopian Region, and from Arabia, Cyprus, and Asia Minor to Persia, India, and South China. The coloration is rich and varied, and the sexes are commonly alike, while hybrids undoubtedly occur. Apart from a special study, a general idea is given by the following descriptions. _F. vulgaris_, the Black Partridge, ranging from Cyprus, Palestine, and Asia Minor to Assam, formerly occurred in Spain, Italy, Sicily, Greece, several of the Mediterranean Islands, and North Africa.[162] It has the whole plumage blackish, with buff markings on the crown, wings, and mantle, white ocelli on the upper back and flanks, white barring on the lower back and tail, a white patch below the eye, and chestnut collar and under tail-coverts. The bill is black, the feet are orange with a small blunt spur. The collar of the brownish female is confined to the nape, and the throat is white. In _F. levaillanti_ of South Africa, the "Redwing" of English {227}colonists, both sexes have the crown brown, edged with black and white, which continues down the nape and widens at its base; a black and white band outlines the throat and forms a patch below it, while the rest of the head is rufous. The upper parts are black, brown, and buff, with pale chestnut remiges; the under parts are of the last colour, varied with buff and black, and barred with brown on the flanks. Spurs are occasionally wanting. _F. adspersus_ of western South Africa is very distinct, both male and female being brown above, with fine black and grey mottlings and black lores; the head, neck, and lower surface are white, with narrow black bars. The spurs are long and sharp. _F. albigularis_ of West Africa is grey-brown, with rusty crown, white throat, buff under parts, and bright bay patches on the wing-coverts, the upper back and neck exhibiting white streaks edged with black. The lower back is blotched with black, the spurs are moderate.

Of some five Asiatic species, _F. sinensis_–introduced into Madagascar, Mauritius, and Réunion–alone reaches eastward of Assam to China; whereas _F. pondicerianus_ has been imported into Rodriguez and the Amirante Islands.

Francolins are found in family parties rather than coveys, and prefer localities near water, though these may consist of rushy swamps, cultivated lands, stony slopes, or maritime plains. Dry situations are, however, favoured, a sufficiency of cover being the chief requisite, and an altitude of six thousand feet being occasionally attained. Some forms roost upon the ground and apparently never perch, others–especially in South Africa–resort habitually to trees at night or when disturbed; but probably the style of country and the amount of persecution account for this difference, while the decrease of the commoner species in certain parts emphasises the fact that they are an easy prey to gunners and other foes. These birds run with great rapidity, and are extremely difficult to flush, still more so for a second time; when forced to rise they do so with a whirring noise, and fly off heavily but swiftly, to pitch again as soon as possible. Reposing in the shade during the hot hours, they feed in the morning and evening, at which times the loud, shrill cry of three bell-like notes, or the "hysterical laugh," may be heard in all directions. The diet consists of insects, shoots of plants, berries, seeds, and bulbs, the powerful bill being used for digging. The well-concealed nest resembles that of a Partridge, the six to fourteen eggs, found in {228}autumn as well as spring,[163] are olive-brown or buff, occasionally with small brown spots or a few white shell-markings.

_Ammoperdix bonhami_ of South-West Asia is a desert form of an isabelline colour, with blue-grey crown and throat, black forehead and superciliary stripes, white lores and ear-coverts, a few black markings near the rump, chestnut hues on the tail and flanks, and longitudinal black bars on the latter. _A. heyi_, ranging from Nubia to the Jordan Valley and the Persian Gulf, has no black on the head, the frontal band being white, and the cheeks and mid-throat chestnut. The rufous and buff females of the two species are indistinguishable. They inhabit wastes and stony ravines up to four thousand feet, in pairs or small coveys; crouching, to avoid detection, on the ground, which matches their colour; flying like Quails; and uttering a reiterated double whistle. The eight to twelve eggs, of a plain drab tint, are deposited among stones or under tussocks, with hardly any nest.

_Caccabis rufa_, the Red-legged or French Partridge, introduced into England from France, and inhabiting Western Europe generally from Belgium and Switzerland to the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Elba, and South Italy, occurs in the Atlantic Islands, but not in Africa. The crown is grey, a black band outlines the throat and reaches past the eyes to the forehead, the upper parts are reddish-grey or brownish, and the tail is partly chestnut. The abdomen is bright buff, the chest grey with black margins to the feathers; chestnut, white, and black stripes adorn the flanks; the bill, feet, and orbits are red. The male is only distinguishable by having rudimentary spurs. _C. saxatilis_, the Greek Partridge, has the chest plain and the flanks without white. It inhabits the Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, Balkans, and Sicilian hills; the eastern race, _C. chukar_, ranging from the Ionian Islands to Aden, Persia, Mongolia, and China, and being naturalized in St. Helena. _C. magna_ of Tibet shews a double gorget of black and reddish. _C. petrosa_, the Barbary Partridge, has a chestnut crown and collar, with white spots on the latter; it occupies North-West Africa, Sardinia, several of the Canary Islands, and Gibraltar. _C. spatzi_ of South Tunis differs slightly. _C. melanocephala_ of South-West Arabia has a black crown, bluish upper parts, flanks marked with black and white, {229}and a black mark down the fore-neck. The members of this genus frequent cultivated country, grassy desert-hills, and scrub-covered ground, up to sixteen thousand feet; they are unsuspicious in quiet parts, but such is not the case in England. They run and fly far and fast, but are exceptionally hard to flush, trusting almost entirely to their feet, and occasionally when hard pressed resorting to trees. The loud note may be syllabled chuk-chuk-chukar-chukar; the food consists of leaves, fruits, seeds and insects; the nest is a scantily-lined excavation, containing from seven to fourteen yellowish-white eggs with reddish specks or blotches. The pugnacious males are used by the Cypriots to attract their wild kindred; but in Britain they have been said–probably in error–to drive away the Common Partridge.

_Tetraogallus tibetanus_, the Tibetan "Snow-Cock" or "Snow-Pheasant," is dark grey above, with buff markings towards the wings and rump, and black vermiculations; the under parts are white, with a grey pectoral band and black streaks posteriorly. There is a yellowish naked patch behind the eye, the bill is orange, and the feet are red. The sexes are similarly coloured, but the male has a pair of strong blunt spurs. The range extends from East Turkestan to West China, where _T. henrici_ occurs, with a grey chest. _T. himalayensis_, found from the Himalayas to the Hindu Kush and the Altai Mountains, has the pectoral band and a patch on each side of the head and nape chestnut, the chest white with black bars, the orbits yellow, the bill dusky, and the feet orange. _T. caspius_, extending from the Taurus to Transcaspia and South Persia, has the upper breast grey with black spots, and lacks the chestnut on the head; _T. caucasicus_ of the Caucasus has the occiput and nape rufous, and the chest black and buff; _T. altaicus_ of the Altai range has the last spotted with white, but no white bases to the secondaries as in the two preceding forms. These large active birds haunt stony hill-sides above the forest-zone and near the snow-line, being gregarious, yet keeping in pairs; they are wild and wary, fly straight and swiftly, utter shrill whistles or cackling notes, and feed upon insects, buds, roots, grass, moss, and fern. From six to nine yellowish or olive eggs with reddish or purplish spots, generally one-third larger than those of the Capercaillie, are laid in a hollow in the soil, sheltered by a stone or overhanging tuft.

_Tetraophasis obscurus_ of East Tibet is in both sexes {230}brownish-grey above, with blackish markings anteriorly, olive tints on the mantle, and buff on the wings; the throat and some blotches on the flanks are chestnut, the breast is grey with black spots, the abdomen grey and buff, the tail mainly black and white. The male has two stout spurs. _T. széchenyii_ of Central Tibet has the throat fawn-coloured, and the whole of the under parts blotched with chestnut. The habits are apparently somewhat similar to those of the last genus. _Lerwa nivicola_, the "Snow-Partridge," ranging from the Himalayas to Western China, has black upper parts with white cross-bars, which become rufous buff on the mantle and wings; the under surface is chestnut, with black and white markings only shewing towards the belly. A pair of spurs distinguishes the cock from the hen. This species inhabits broken grassy or heathery sides of mountains in the midst of snow, up to an altitude of at least fourteen thousand feet; it is tamer than the Snow-Pheasant, flies equally well, and nestles under jutting rocks. The coveys feed on moss, seeds, and insects, and utter a short double Grouse-like note or a harsh whistle.

Sub-fam. 4. _Odontophorinae_,[164]–The "American Partridges," are Quail-like birds, rarely attaining the size of a Red Grouse, and readily distinguished from their kin by the doubly-toothed mandible and the lack of spurs. The sexes are alike, if not otherwise stated.

Of some four species of _Dendrortyx_, ranging from South Mexico to Costa Rica, _D. macrurus_, of the former country, has a black head and throat, with a long white streak above and below each eye, and a rufous tip to the short, full occipital crest. The neck and back are chestnut and grey; the rump, wings, and tail are browner with black mottlings; the breast is greyish with rufous streaks. The bill, feet, and naked orbits are coral-red. _Callipepla squamata_, of the South-Western United States and Mexico, has a grey-brown head, with white-tipped crest and buff throat; the wings, rump, and tail are brownish-grey with white inner margins to some of the scapulars and secondaries; the mid-breast and belly are fawn-coloured. The remaining plumage is grey, with black margins to the feathers which cause a scaly appearance, and shews dusky triangular spots beneath. _Oreortyx pictus_ of the Western United States possesses two very long black occipital plumes; olive-brown upper parts with white edges to the scapulars and outer secondaries; slaty head, neck, {231}and lower surface, with chestnut throat and abdomen, of which the former is laterally margined with white; a white band from the chin to the lores; and chestnut flanks, barred with black and white. _Lophortyx californicus_, of the same countries, has the head and crest of two club-shaped feathers black, a yellow forehead, olive-grey upper parts, a black throat outlined with white, buff mid-breast, and chestnut belly, each feather of the last two being edged with black. A white band connects the eyes and continues behind them, while white streaks grace the sides and flanks. The female lacks the black and white pattern on the head, and has whitish lower parts with yellow-brown throat. Two other species extend the range to Mexico, _Philortyx fasciatus_ of South Mexico has an olive-brown upper surface, washed with rufous on the crown and the greyer neck and mantle, and barred or blotched with black and buff on the lower back, wings, and tail; the blackish crest is tipped with red; the throat and lower parts are white, with a few median spots and pronounced black bars on the chest, sides, and flanks, where the feathers have rusty margins. _Eupsychortyx cristatus_ of Curaçao and Aruba has half a dozen congeners, ranging through Central and northern South America. It has a buff crest, crown, and throat; black and white nape and cheeks; reddish-grey upper parts mottled and blotched with black and buff; and rufous lower surface, barred with black, and spotted on the chest, sides, and flanks with white. In the female the black on the head is replaced by buff. _Ortyx virginianus_ of the Eastern United States is rufous and grey above with black blotches, the crown is blackish, the sides of the head are transversely striped with black and white, the white throat is margined with black, the lower parts are reddish-white with black chevrons. The hen-bird has a buff throat, and shews little black on the cheeks. This genus contains eight members, often called Colins, which range as far south as Mexico and Cuba. The three species of _Cyrtonyx_ extend from the Southern United States to Guatemala; they all have full crests, highly-developed wing-coverts, and very short, soft tails. The sides of the head and neck exhibit a peculiar black and white pattern, while those of the body are grey, ocellated with white or varied with chestnut. The females lack the pattern on the head. As an example, _C. montezumae_ is rufous above, barred with black, and streaked with buff and white; the breast being chiefly {232}chestnut and the abdomen black. _Dactylortyx thoracicus_ of Central America has brown upper parts, with black blotches and rufous and buff mottlings; the superciliary stripes, cheeks, and throat are chestnut, with a black patch on each side of the last; the under surface is reddish-grey with white shaft-stripes. In the hen the chestnut is replaced by whitish. The crest is not so full as in _Odontophorus_, of which some fourteen species extend from South Mexico to Bolivia and South Brazil. _O. guianensis_, ranging from Panama to Bolivia and Amazonia, has the head and throat mainly chestnut, the neck and mantle grey, the lower back reddish-brown–all except the grey portions being marked with buff and black; the mid-throat is grey, the under parts orange-brown, with dusky barring on the chest and sides. The naked orbits are reddish; the bill is black, the feet are rather lighter, as in the Sub-family generally. _Rhynchortyx spodiostethus_ of Veragua and Panama has the crown brown, the rest of the head chiefly rusty-red, the mantle grey and brown, the lower back buff relieved by grey and black, the wings more chestnut, the lower parts dark grey, with white and buff centres to the throat and breast respectively, and black-barred flanks. _R. cinctus_ of Veragua has a rufous chest and olive-brown cheeks.

As an instance of the habits we may take _Ortyx virginianus_, called Bob-white from the shrill triple whistle of the male, which resembles "Ah-bob-white." It is a wary denizen of open woods and pastures, found in coveys, and roosting on the ground, though habitually taking refuge in trees, where it crouches upon the branches. It runs very swiftly, but rises, when hard pressed, with a whirring noise to fly for a short distance. The food consists of succulent shoots, seeds, berries, acorns, beech-nuts, and insects; the nest is imbedded in grass or placed at the foot of a tree, and is made of a little herbage, which may even arch over it; the white or drab eggs number from nine to eighteen. The male is said to assist in incubation, two broods being occasionally reared in a season. The female utters a clucking sound, and will feign lameness when with her brood.

Other forms prefer pine-forests, rocky ground, or dry sandy flats overgrown with cactus and sage-brush; their cries being in some cases louder or more guttural, while the eggs may be blotched or spotted with reddish-brown. Nests have even been recorded low down in trees. _Ortyx virginianus_ has been {233}introduced into the West Indies and the Old World, though unsuccessfully in the latter; _Lophortyx californicus_ into Europe, the Sandwich Islands, and New Zealand, in the last two of which it is firmly established. In America, moreover, some species seem to have lately extended their range. Hybrids are occasionally found.

Sub-fam. 5. _Tetraoninae._–_Bonasa umbellus_, the Ruffed Grouse, which inhabits the greater part of North America, is remarkable for the frills of black or chestnut feathers surmounting a bare space on the sides of the neck, and for the partially naked metatarsi. Both sexes are rufous or greyish above, with buff and black markings, a short blackish crest, and a black subterminal tail-bar; the under parts being buff, relieved by brown and white. Great variation, however, is shown, and sub-species may be easily differentiated. When undisturbed, the "Pheasant" or "Partridge," as it is variously called by local sportsmen, is tame, and prefers undulating wooded country in the neighbourhood of cultivation, though it is also found in proximity to the hills. The habits resemble those of the following species, but the food is somewhat more varied, and includes beech-nuts, chestnuts, and acorns. In spring the cock often struts upon some log, and drums after the manner of other American grouse; but the habit is not confined to that season, nor is the sound produced by inflated neck-sacs, but by the wings. The absence of the hens, moreover, suggests that the performance is not amatory. From eight to fourteen or more eggs are laid, of a whitish or buff colour, with or without round reddish spots. _B. sylvestris_, the Hazel Grouse–the Gelinotte of the French–is a smaller and darker bird, with white markings on the wings, and a black throat surrounded by a white line, which reaches to the forehead. There is no ruff, and the female differs from the male in her whitish throat. It inhabits hill-forests in Europe and Asia up to three thousand feet, extending southward to Northern Spain, North Italy, Transylvania, China, and Japan, but not occurring in Britain. The food consists of shoots and buds of birch and hazel, seeds, berries, and other fruit, worms, insects, and their larvae. The flight is noisy, but not protracted, the birds resorting to trees and squatting on the branches. The usual note is a melancholy whistle, followed by a chirping sound. The slight nest contains from six to fifteen yellowish eggs, spotted with a little rufous, which are deposited early in spring, as is commonly the case in the Family. _B. {234}griseiventris_ and _B. severtzovi_ are the representative forms in the Government of Perm in Russia, and the districts from Koko-Nor to South Mongolia respectively. The Old World species, sometimes denominated _Tetrastes_, are monogamous, and do not "drum."

Different races of _Pedioecetes phasianellus_, the well-known Prairie Chicken, occupy America as far southwards as North California, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Both male and female shew black, red-brown, and yellowish tints above, with white streaks on the scapulars and spots on the wings, the lower surface being white with dusky markings. The short tail, with two elongated, but truncated median rectrices, gives it the name of Sharp-tailed Grouse. This shy denizen of the woods and prairies extends almost to the Arctic barren grounds in spring, that season being remarkable for the conduct of both sexes, which meet to hold regular dances on elevated spots, aptly compared to the hills of Ruffs. No doubt the cocks are the chief performers, but they are said to be monogamous, though their

## actions resemble those of their polygamous allies. The flight is strong and

rapid, with alternate periods of flapping and sailing; the note is a triple whistle or a "cack-cack-cack." The food includes shoots of plants, grass, berries, and insects, the last-named being the chief diet of the young, as in the case of many other American Grouse. About fourteen eggs are deposited in a cavity scraped amidst rank herbage, and but slightly lined; their colour is brownish with darker spots, or occasionally creamy with marks of red.

_Centrocercus urophasianus_, the Sage-Cock of the Western United States and the adjoining portions of British America, has the upper parts mottled with black, grey-brown, rufous, and buff, the lower parts black, relieved by a white chest. The tail is long and wedge-shaped, with attenuated feathers; the sides of the neck and lower throat possess stiff spiny plumage, and the former bare orange air-sacs, as in the species next to be mentioned. The female lacks the black spots on the white throat. This bird, the largest of the New World Tetraoninae, is generally unsuspicious, and runs ahead of the traveller uttering cackling or clucking notes; when hard pressed it rises with fluttering action, and flies off rapidly to a considerable distance. The food consists chiefly of "sage-brush" (_Artemisia tridentata_), but other leaves and flowers, seeds, berries, grain, and insects vary the fare. The habits at the mating-time resemble those of _Dendragapus_ and {235}_Tympanuchus_, while the eggs, from seven to seventeen in number, may be found placed in an excavation of the bare soil, or resting on a slight lining; they are drab or olive in colour, with roundish brown spots. What seems to be the ground colour is easily rubbed off before incubation commences, a fact noticeable in other Galline birds and Plovers. The Sage-Grouse reaches a considerable elevation, as does the sage-brush, which gives its name to the bird.

_Tympanuchus americanus_, the Prairie-hen, found in the districts drained by the Mississippi and its confluents, and thence northwards to Ontario, is brown above, barred with buff and black, and chiefly paler brown below, marked with white. The small crest is tipped with white, and a tuft of long, stiff, black feathers covers the inflatable yellow air-sacs on the sides of the neck, the sacs being absent and the tufts shorter in females. In spring parties assemble after daybreak on dry knolls, and conduct their love affairs after the fashion of the Dusky Grouse (p. 236), a booming noise being audible from afar, and the skin of the neck being expanded below the erected tufts. The cocks are most pugnacious when the pairing-time is nearly over. Shoots of plants, berries, grain, acorns, and insects constitute the food. The flight is powerful and rapid, but individuals often run and squat. For a Grouse the nest is considerable; and from eleven to fourteen, or even twenty, creamy or olive-coloured eggs are deposited, with very small reddish-brown spots. _T. cupido_, the Heath-Hen of the eastern United States, now only found on the island of Martha's Vineyard, off Massachusetts, has smaller neck-tufts of pointed feathers, and more conspicuous whitish marks on the scapulars. _T. pallidicinctus_, the Lesser Prairie-Hen, ranging from Texas to Kansas, is barred with brown, margined on each side with black.

_Dendragapus obscurus_, the Dusky, Blue, or Pine-Grouse of the Rocky Mountain districts, has black upper parts mottled with grey and a little brown, and pure grey under surface; the female having a considerable admixture of buff, and the male possessing air-sacs like those of _Tympanuchus_. A darker race, _D. fuliginosus_, extends the range to Sitka and California. Another northern form, which lacks the broad grey tail-band, is termed _D. richardsoni_. These birds frequent wooded ravines up to nine thousand feet, preferring the neighbourhood of water, and feeding as do their allies. The characteristic booming noise, common to this species and others, may be heard throughout the day in spring, the male {236}choosing some horizontal bough or convenient spot of ground whereon to display himself with drooping wings, expanded tail, and inflated air-sacs. Rarely can an observer gain a view, so misleading is the ventriloquistic effect of the sound. The nest, commonly placed beneath a branch or near a tussock, is a mere depression in the soil lined with herbage, leaves, or fir-needles. The eight to twelve eggs are creamy-buff, with round brown dots.

_Canachites_ (_Canace_) _canadensis_, the Canada Grouse or "Spruce-Partridge," found from Alaska and British America to the north-eastern United States, is black, with lead-coloured bars above, and a white pectoral band below, the tail having a chestnut tip, which is wanting in the browner _C. franklini_ of the north-western Rocky Mountains. In the female the grey is chiefly replaced by orange. It is a tame species, and flies but a short distance before alighting on some tree. The food consists of "spruce" buds and larch needles, with berries of _Vaccinium_ (bilberry, cranberry, etc.), _Empetrum_ (crowberry), and so forth. It is not polygamous; but a most curious account of the cock's habits of showing off and drumming is given by Bendire.[165] The hen constructs a nest of dry moss, leaves, and twigs upon the ground, under shelter of some overhanging bough, and lays from eight to eighteen reddish-buff eggs with brown spots. _Falcipennis hartlaubi_, a very similar species, distinguished by slender sickle-shaped outer primaries, occurs in North-East Siberia, Kamtschatka, and Saghalien.

_Tetrao urogallus_, the Capercaillie, apparently not uncommon in Scotland until 1770, and exterminated in Ireland about the same date, was reintroduced at Taymouth Park, Perthshire, in 1838, and is now fairly plentiful in Central North Britain. Failure has attended similar attempts in Ireland. The discoveries of bones in Teesdale and near Torquay shew that this bird's range once extended to Yorkshire and Devonshire, while similar finds have been made in Aquitaine and Denmark. At the present day it inhabits sub-alpine pine-forests from Scandinavia, the Pyrenees, North Italy, and Greece to Lake Baikal and the Altai Mountains, being represented in the Urals by a sub-species, _T. uralensis_. The male is almost entirely blackish-grey above, with somewhat darker tail, and black below with greenish chest. The female is smaller, and is mottled with brown, buff, black, and white, merging into rufous on the breast, which is barred with black. A variable {237}amount of white occurs beneath in both sexes. The brown hair-like feathers on the legs are longest in winter, a fact true also in the Ptarmigan and elsewhere. A cross between the hen Capercaillie and the Black-Cock is known in North Europe as the Rackelhahn (_T. medius_).[166] The "lek" or "spel," as the love-performance is called, has been described in detail by many authors;[167] it takes place in spring, and occasionally in autumn, when the excited male struts with drooping wings and erect outspread tail before the assembled females, uttering curious noisy cries, to which they reply with softer plaintive notes. He is said to be deaf during the "play." At times he takes up a position on some lofty bough with the evident intention of challenging his rivals, who quickly respond to the provocation; ere long they join in combat upon the ground, leaping and rushing upon one another in their blind rage, and using bills, wings, and claws as weapons of offence. The flight of the Capercaillie is heavy though strong. The food consists chiefly of young pine-shoots, which are apt to give the flesh a flavour of turpentine, but includes berries, insects, and worms. About a dozen yellowish-white eggs, freckled with dull orange, are deposited in a hole scraped for the purpose near the foot of a tree, a slight lining being sometimes added. _T. parvirostris_ (_urogalloïdes_) of North-East Siberia, with comparatively slender bill and purplish-green head, and _T. kamtschaticus_ of Kamtschatka, are distinguished by their white-tipped scapulars.

_Lyrurus tetrix_, the Black Grouse, called according to the sex Black Cock or Grey Hen, ranges over Europe north of the Pyrenees and Apennines, as well as through Northern Asia to the Tian-Shan Mountains and Pekin. It inhabits the wilder moorlands of the north and west of England, being much less plentiful in the Midlands, and very rare in the east. It has, however, been introduced into Norfolk, and unsuccessfully into Ireland, while it has been restored to Surrey, Sussex, and Berks, and still occurs in Wilts, Dorset, Hants, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. In Scotland it frequents most suitable districts, but does not reach Orkney, Shetland, or the Outer Hebrides. The male, remarkable for his lyrate tail with its outwardly curved rectrices, is black with steel-blue reflexions, exhibiting a little brown in parts, {238}a white bar on the wing, and white under tail-coverts. The female is rufous and buff, barred and spotted with black, and shewing but little white. This bird is usually found on broken ground or in open woodlands, where it conceals itself among long heath, bracken, or grass. The polygamous cocks meet at dawn in spring to fight for the hens, parading before them in great excitement with depressed outspread tails, while uttering a drumming or cooing noise. At other times the call-note is loud and clear. The flight is powerful but heavy; the food includes berries, seeds, grain, shoots, buds, and insects. The nest is merely a scantily-lined hollow, situated at the foot of a tree, or in heather and the like, often near plantations. The six to ten eggs have a yellowish ground-colour, with scattered orange-brown blotches, the markings being larger than in the Capercaillie. In some winters these Grouse allow themselves to be snowed up, as occasionally do other species. _L. mlokosiewiczi_ of the Caucasus has the rectrices only slightly curved, and black under tail-coverts. Hybrids between the Black Cock and the Willow Grouse are called Riporre in Scandinavia.

_Lagopus scoticus_, the Red Grouse or Muirfowl, the only bird entirely confined to our islands, differs from its congeners in never becoming white in winter. It varies considerably in coloration,[168] but is usually considered a local form of the Willow Grouse (_L. albus_) of the north of Europe, Asia, and America. The male in both summer and winter is more or less chestnut-brown above, with black markings and a reddish head; the lower parts are similar, but are usually spotted with white. In autumn the brown of the upper parts becomes buff, and the lower surface is barred with buff and black. Mr. Ogilvie Grant[169] recognises three types of plumage in the male, a red form with no white spots, from Ireland and Western Scotland; a blackish variety comparatively rarely found; and another largely spotted with white below or even above. Intermediate specimens constitute the bulk of our birds. The female exhibits, moreover, a buff-spotted and a buff-barred form; but in summer she is typically black above with concentric buff markings, and buff below with black bars. Her autumn plumage, which continues throughout the winter, is black, spotted with buff and barred with rufous.

{239}[Illustration: FIG. 48.–Red Grouse. _Lagopus scoticus._ × ¼.]

Little need be said of the habits of this well-known species, nor will space allow of a description of the methods of killing it by driving and so forth; but it may be observed that it utters a clear ringing note, us well as the familiar cok-cok-cok, and feeds upon grain and tender shoots of ling (_Calluna_) and heather (_Erica_), besides other plants. The nest of moss, grass, and the like is placed amidst heather, and contains from six to ten, or even more, yellowish-white eggs, thickly blotched and spotted with fine red-brown, purplish, or black. In England the Red Grouse is found as far south as Derbyshire and Shropshire, in Wales to Glamorgan; while unsuccessful attempts have been made to introduce it into Surrey and elsewhere. In Ireland it is rather thinly distributed, but in Scotland it reaches the Orkneys, and an occasional brood has been known to be reared in Shetland, where a few pairs were turned down between 1858 and 1883. It has also been acclimatized in Southern Sweden. _Lagopus albus_, the Willow Grouse of Northern Europe, Asia, and America, termed the "Dal-riporre" in Scandinavia, is completely white in winter, except for the lateral rectrices, which are chiefly black; in summer it resembles the Red Grouse, but is distinguished by the white wing-quills. The female is smaller. The habits {240}are similar to those of the last-named, but a preference is shewn for willow- and birch-scrub; shoots of these trees or of _Vaccinium_, with various moorland berries, furnishing the food. A performance recalling the "lek" of the Capercaillie is said to be given by the male in spring, a fact also true of the succeeding species.[170] _L. mutus_, the Ptarmigan or Fjeld-riporre, is in summer blackish-brown with grey and rufous markings, the median tail-feathers, abdomen, and most of the wings being white. The back becomes grey in autumn. The female is reddish-buff, barred with black. In winter both sexes are white, with black and white rectrices, and in the male with black lores. Nearly all the so-called Ptarmigan in English poulterers' shops are Willow Grouse. The haunts are on the higher parts of mountain-ranges, where stony ground abounds, but somewhat lower altitudes are sought after the breeding season. The food consists of shoots and berries; the cry is croaking, and best heard in misty weather. From five to ten eggs, with blacker markings than those of Red Grouse, are deposited in a hole scraped in the earth, with little or no lining, the nest being commonly quite exposed, though equally often under shelter of a boulder. Ptarmigan are decidedly difficult to see among the similarly-coloured stones. In Scotland they occur on most of the higher hills from Arran northwards, though no longer in Dumfries and Galloway; while abroad they occupy Northern Europe, with the Pyrenees and the Alps, and possibly Northern Asia. In the lighter _L. rupestris_ the adult male never has a black breast or a grey back in autumn. This form occurs in North Asia and North America, with Greenland, Iceland, and Japan, many local races having been described as distinct species or sub-species; while the larger _L. hyperboreus_ (_hemileucurus_), with a white base to the tail, inhabits Spitsbergen; and _L. leucurus_, with entirely white rectrices–the smallest member of the genus–ranges along the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia to New Mexico.

Of fossil forms _Coturnix_ and _Palaeortyx_ occur in the Upper Eocene of the Paris Basin, _Taoperdix_ in the calcareous deposits of Languedoc of the same age; _Palaeortyx_ is again found with three species of _Palaeoperdix_, in the Middle Miocene of France, while _Phasianus_ is not only recorded from {241}this formation, but from the Upper Miocene of Oeningen and the Pliocene of Attica, in the latter of which _Gallus_ accompanies it. _Meleagris_ has been discovered in the Miocene of Colorado, and the Post-pliocene of New Jersey; _Gallus_ in the Pliocene of France, _Palaeotetrix_ and _Pedioecetes_ in that of Oregon; and, finally, bones of _Lagopus_ have been brought to light in the French Plistocene, and those of _Tetrao urogallus_ at Kent's Hole near Torquay and in the caves of Teesdale in England.

Fam. VII. OPISTHOCOMIDAE.–The curious and highly specialized Hoatzin (_Opisthocomus cristatus_) has been the subject of much discussion among systematists, as the outcome of which it is necessary to adopt for it a special Sub-Order OPISTHOCOMI. Buffon classed it with the Curassows, P. L. S. Müller and Gmelin placed it in the Linnean genus _Phasianus_; but Illiger recognised a genus _Opisthocomus_, while Huxley and Garrod fully admitted its claim to higher rank than that of a Family. The habits are to some extent Ralline, and certain points of structure indicate a considerable affinity to the _Cuculi_.

The sternum is utterly unlike that of any other species, the anterior portion of the keel being aborted, and the posterior correlated with a flattened area of thick naked skin, on which the bird mainly rests. These modifications are no doubt connected with the extraordinarily large crop, which is supported by the furcula and the fore-part of the breast-bone, being received in a cavity of the pectoral muscles; the whole organ is decidedly muscular, and contains two divisions with a partial constriction between them. The body is long and thin, the bill is strong with basal serrations on the maxilla; bristles surround the gape, and the eye-lids have distinct lashes–a rare fact among birds. The reticulated metatarsi are fairly stout; the toes are long; the hallux being unusually developed and the claws slightly curved. The short rounded wings have ten primaries and nine secondaries. The nearly even tail is elongated, with ten stiff feathers. The plumage in both sexes is olive above with white markings, and dull rufous below; the long loose crest and the tip of the tail are yellowish, and a patch of bare bluish-black skin surrounds the eyes. The tongue is sagittate, the furcula is Y-shaped and ossifies anteriorly with the coracoids, an aftershaft is present, the down of the adults is sparing, while a small amount–of a reddish-brown colour–is observable in the newly-hatched {242}young. The syrinx has one pair of muscles inserted on the distal end of the trachea.

The Hoatzin or "Anna," which is about the size of a Pigeon, ranges from Colombia to the Lower Amazons and Bolivia, where it haunts the sides of lagoons, creeks, and rivers covered with a thick growth of low trees or bushes, which project over the stream or the mud left bare by the tide. In these tangled solitudes it skulks during the heat of the day, while at other times it may be observed squatting upon the branches, mainly supported on the patch of hardened skin already mentioned. When disturbed the bird flies off awkwardly for some forty yards with a violent flapping motion, or progresses by leaps from bough to bough, erecting its crest and expanding its wings and tail. The note is sharp and shrill, and has been described as a hissing screech. The food consists of leaves and fruit of the prickly _Drepanocarpus lunulatus_, of the Aroid _Montrichardia arborescens_, of _Avicennia nitida_, and of a species of _Psidium_. The conspicuous nest, placed on low trees or shrubs, is a loose platform of spiny twigs and sticks with a softer lining, which contains from three to five yellowish-white eggs of a Rail-like appearance, spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. The young, which can see and run as soon as they are hatched, have a claw on both index and pollex, by means of which they creep about the thickets and hook themselves over the branches, assisted by the bill and feet. They can also swim and dive. A strong musky odour is given off by the adults, whence they are termed "Stinking Pheasants" in Guiana. The male has been asserted to be polygamous.

[Illustration: FIG. 49.–Hoatzin.

_Opisthocomus cristatus._ × ⅕.]

{243}ORDER X. GRUIFORMES.

The Gruiformes, which lie between the Galliformes and the Charadriiformes, compose a somewhat heterogeneous Order, which includes forms so different as the _Rallidae_ (Rails), _Gruidae_ (Cranes), _Aramidae_ (Limpkins), _Psophiidae_ (Trumpeters), _Cariamidae_ (Seriemá and Chuñia), _Otididae_ (Bustards), _Rhinochetidae_ (Kagu), _Eurypygidae_ (Sun-Bitterns), and _Heliornithidae_ (Finfoots). Of these a large number are Waders, but the Land-Rail, the Wekas, the Kagu, the Bustards, and others, cannot be classed in this category. All agree in having no true crop, a tracheo-bronchial syrinx, and an elevated hallux; while the front toes are never completely webbed, though nearly so in _Heliornis_; the nares, moreover, are pervious, except in _Rhinochetus_. In the last-named the condition of the newly-hatched young is unknown, in _Heliornis_ they are said to be naked at first, but in the remainder of the group they are covered with simple down. In structure the nine Families differ widely, a fact which would seem a strong argument against combining them under one head; but the aggregate of such points must be considered, and in any linear system the relationships within every Order cannot possibly be equally close. The present arrangement does not differ greatly from that adopted by Mr. Sclater,[171] wherein he accepted the names _Alectorides_ and _Fulicariae_, used by Nitzsch, but made the former to consist of the _Aramidae_, _Eurypygidae_, _Gruidae_, _Psophiidae_, _Cariamidae_, and _Otididae_, and the latter of the _Rallidae_ and _Heliornithidae_. Some writers, both modern and ancient, have placed the _Otididae_ in the Limicoline group.

Fam. I. RALLIDAE.–The Rails constitute a somewhat generalized and very homogeneous Family, found in almost all parts of the world. The body is peculiarly compressed–enabling them to move with ease in dense vegetation–while the keel of the sternum is especially reduced in those flightless forms for which the group is remarkable. The strong bill varies in dimensions, being long in typical Rails, shorter and thicker in Crakes, decidedly curved in _Himantornis_, and reaching its maximum size among the Gallinules in _Porphyrio_ and _Notornis_, where it is subconical. A horny shield is present upon the forehead in _Megacrex_, _Habroptila_, the Gallinules and the Coots, which is usually rounded or truncated {244}posteriorly, but is reduced to a point in _Porphyriops_. This excrescence is in most cases red, but is sky-blue, light green, or dusky in _Porphyriola_, green in _Tribonyx_, blackish in _Megacrex_, white, yellow, or brown in _Fulica_. The lower part of the tibia is bare; the anteriorly scutellated metatarsus is seldom short, though occasionally very stout; the toes are long and slender with the elevated hallux weakest; the claws are fairly long, curved, and sharp. Somewhat shorter digits are found in _Tribonyx_ and _Pareudiastes_, _Fulica_ has broad lobes of skin along the front toes, while _Porphyriops_ and _Gallinula_ have narrow entire membranous margins to them. The wings are generally short and rounded, with ten or eleven primaries, and from eleven to sixteen secondaries, all the feathers being obtuse; but in many species these members are imperfectly developed, and their coverts actually hide the quills in such cases as _Ocydromus_ and _Notornis_. This retrograde tendency is clearly evidenced in the "Island Hen" of Tristan da Cunha (_Gallinula_ or _Porphyriornis nesiotis_) and the Mountain Cock of Gough Island (_G. comeri_), which flutter along without flying; in the Moho of Hawaii (_Pennula ecaudata_), _Ocydromus_ and _Notornis_ of New Zealand, and _Habroptila wallacii_ of Halmahera; not to mention _Eulabeornis_, _Porzanula_, _Nesolimnas_, _Cabalus_, _Pareudiastes_, and the extinct _Aphanapteryx_, _Aptornis_, _Diaphorapteryx_, and _Erythromachus_. In several flightless forms, as in the Dodo, the angle between the scapula and the coracoid is obtuse. The tail has from ten to fourteen rectrices, the usual number being twelve; these are short and usually soft, frequently with decomposed webs, and may be concealed by the coverts, as in _Megacrex_, _Amurolimnas_, and _Pennula_. Its form varies from narrow and pointed to comparatively broad and rounded. A large caruncle rises behind the frontal shield in _Gallicrex_ and _Fulica cornuta_, two knobs being found there in _F. cristata_: the wing, moreover, is often armed with a sharp spine. The nasal grooves are commonly long and deep; the pervious nostrils being in the hard sheath of the bill in Gallinules, and partially covered by a bony or horny growth in _Rallicula_, _Pareudiastes_, and _Thyrorhina_. The furcula is U-shaped, the tongue lanceolate, the aftershaft very small. Down is plentiful in both adults and young, that of the nestlings being commonly black, while the chicks of our Moor-Hen and Coot have the head adorned with red and blue. Rails, not being born blind, run from the shell, and swim at once.

{245}Ralline birds are under ordinary circumstances non-gregarious, and inhabit tangled marshes or damp localities near rivers and lakes; but many, and especially the flightless forms, have a predilection for dry plains, as for instance _Pennula_ of Hawaii, _Ocydromus_ of New Zealand, _Cabalus_ of the Chatham Islands, _Habroptila_ of Halmahera, _Tricholimnas_ of New Caledonia, and _Pareudiastes_ of Samoa. _Crex pratensis_ of the Palaearctic Region also haunts dry lands. _Fulica gigantea_ occurs only on the lakes in the Andes of Chili, Bolivia, and Peru. Some species are partly crepuscular, and in Britain the Spotted Crake is certainly little heard except towards evening. Rails walk easily with bobbing head and jerking tail, while they prefer running to flying, as the flight is laboured and requires continuous

## action of the wings. As may be readily seen in the case of Coots and

Moor-Hens, some difficulty is experienced in rising from water, the feet trailing along the surface for several yards; but, when once fairly launched in the air, the legs, which at first hang down, are drawn up below the tail, and a steady pace is maintained for considerable distances. Most species swim and dive with facility, and will even remain with only the bill above water; perching and climbing, too, are common habits. Generally speaking, the members of this Family are silent birds, though they may be constantly heard calling towards dusk; the more or less melancholy notes are less varied than in many other groups, but may be harsh and sonorous, or loud and clear. The groaning noise uttered by the breeding Water-Rail, the somewhat frog-like sound made by the Moor-Hen, the continuous craking of the Corn-Crake, the "cackling" of the Clapper-Rail, the shrill whistle of the Wekas, the rasping cry of _Ocydromus sylvestris_, the deep trumpeting of the Purple Gallinule, and the clearer call of the Coot are some of the most notable exceptions. The food consists of worms, molluscs, insects and their larvae, green herbage, tubers, roots of aquatic plants and seeds; _Porphyrio_ and _Tribonyx_ cause serious damage to potato-, rice-, and corn-crops: while the former bird is said to have a curious habit of holding the larger edibles in its claws and nibbling them like a Parrot. Some of the stronger species occasionally prey on mice, lizards, young birds, and eggs. The nest may be a large mass of aquatic plants or dry flags, as in the Coots, or a similar but smaller structure, as in the Gallinules; the former being commonly founded under water, though raised above it, whereas the latter is generally near the bank {246}or–exceptionally–at the height of a few feet in a tree or bush. Rails and Crakes make a more or less substantial fabric in sedges, grass, clover, and so forth, _Creciscus_ and _Porzanula_ a spherical mass with an entrance at the side; but _Pareudiastes_, _Cabalus_, and _Ocydromus_ are stated to breed in most cases in burrows. _Gallicrex_ occasionally fashions its nest on floating leaves, and the writer has seen a Moor-Hen's nest in a similar situation. The eggs, from two to ten or more in number, are generally white or cream-coloured with red-brown, olive, or blackish markings, and often with faint lilac spots; those of the Coot are stone-drab with small black specks; those of _Cabalus modestus_ are white with a few indistinct rufous and grey flecks; those of _Zapornia parva_ and _Porzana bailloni_ are instances of a thick olive-brown mottling. The adults are stated sometimes to carry their young in their claws.

Exceptionally the plumage of the Rallidae is nearly black, as in _Limnocorax_, _Fulica_, and _Habroptila_; slightly browner, as in Gallinula; blue or greenish-blue as in _Porphyrio_: but the coloration is normally sober, with a tendency to olive, brown, or chestnut. This may be relieved by stripes of white, especially on the flanks; the under parts may be nearly red as in _Creciscus levraudi_; and both surfaces may be spotted with white as in the male of _Corethrura pulchra_, or flecked and barred with it, as in _Rallus maculatus_. The sexes are usually alike, but _Rallicula_, _Zapornia_, _Gallicrex_, and _Corethrura_ are instances of the contrary.

Space, however, is wanting to give in detail a description of every form, which is the less necessary in view of their general similarity; but the following examples will enable a fair idea to be gained of the group.

_Rallus aquaticus_, the Water Rail of Europe and Central Asia, which winters in North-West India and North Africa, is olive-brown above with darker streaks, and lead-coloured below, the flanks being barred with black and white. The genus is found in most parts of the world, with the apparent exception of North-West Africa and the Australian Region. _Rallus elegans_, the King-Rail, _R. longirostris_ (_crepitans_), the Clapper-Rail, and _R. virginianus_ are well-known North American species, while _R. madagascariensis_ is confined to Madagascar.

In _Hypotaenidia_, which ranges from India and South China to the Pacific Islands generally, the whole lower parts are barred with black and white, except in _H. striata_ and _H. mülleri_, where {247}these markings are restricted to the sides and abdominal region, and in _H. brachypus_, where the belly is plain.

_Cabalus modestus_ and _Nesolimnas dieffenbachi_ of the Chatham Islands are curious little brown forms with no visible tail, closely allied to the next genus, which they resemble in being flightless, and apparently in general habits. _Ocydromus_ contains the Wood-Hens, or Weka Rails, of New Zealand, of which _O. greyi_ of the North Island is tawny above with dark shaft-stripes or bars, and grey below with fulvous fore-neck and sides. _O. carli_ of the South Island is more cinnamon in hue; _O. australis_, also of the South Island, is less grey below, and usually has barred flanks; _O. fuscus_ of the south-west of the South Island is blacker than the first-named; _O. hectori_ is a paler race of _O. australis_. These Rails are semi-nocturnal, and sometimes excavate burrows, in which, or in the scrub, they pass much of the day; the localities preferred are dry woods, ravines, and sandy shores, _O. fuscus_ obtaining the name of Kelp-Hen from the stretches of sea-weed that it frequents. This species feeds on sea-molluscs, but its congeners will eat young birds, lizards, caterpillars, worms, insects, and berries. The cry is a sharp whistle, often preceded by a growl, the birds being very tame when unmolested. They are pugnacious, inquisitive, and thievish, stealing articles from tents or houses, attacking fowls, or sucking their eggs. Their own eggs are from five to seven, both these and the nest, which is generally in a burrow, much resembling those of other Rails. _Ocydromus sylvestris_, of Lord Howe Island, is nearly uniform rufous above and brownish below, with barred wings and tail; it lays similar eggs upon the ground.

The dusky _Tricholimnas lafresnayi_ of New Caledonia is remarkable for its soft hair-like plumage, and the purplish-brown and black _Gymnocrex rosenbergi_ of Celebes for its bare yellowish orbits.

_Aramides_ includes eight species found in Central and South America, of which _A. ypecaha_ may be taken as a representative. It is olive-green above, with chestnut nape, black rump and tail, and greyish below with white throat and vinous belly; the bill is yellow, the feet are scarlet. Cautious when danger threatens, it is sufficiently audacious to attack poultry; among its native swamps it usually walks in stately style or struts on the branches of trees, though it can run quickly; while it lies closely when surprised on open ground, dashing up with the whirring flight of a Partridge. The alarm-note is powerful, unearthly shrieks being uttered {248}during both day and night. Companies are described by Mr. Hudson as meeting to dance about with expanded wings and open beaks.[172] Somewhat similar in colour to certain members of the last genus is _Megacrex inepta_ of South New Guinea, one of the largest Rails known, which is usually seen running swiftly along water-courses; while the black _Habroptila wallacii_ of Halmahera loves forests. The curious _Himantornis haematopus_ of West Africa is brown, with black and rufous mottlings above, whitish throat, stout green and black bill, and red feet. _Dryolimnas cuvieri_ of Madagascar, Mauritius, and Aldabra Island, and _Canirallus kioloïdes_ of the first-named and West Africa must be briefly mentioned, as must _Rallina_ reaching from India to North-East Australia, which has half a dozen small brown species, with chestnut on the head and chest, and black and white barring below.

[Illustration: FIG. 50.–Land-Rail. _Crex pratensis._ × ¼.]

_Crex pratensis_, the widely-ranging Corn-Crake or Land-Rail, extends from most of Europe to the north of Central Asia, wintering in Africa, and occurring accidentally in North America, or even Greenland and Australia. _Zapornia parva_, the Little Crake, _Porzana maruetta_, the Spotted Crake, and _P. bailloni_, Baillon's Crake, are somewhat similar British Birds, the two latter of which have bred in our islands, _P. maruetta_ still doing so in some districts. This species is brownish-olive with white flecks above and below, grey belly, and flanks showing black and white bars. Of its dozen congeners, covering nearly the whole globe, _P. carolina_, the Sora Rail of North America, is particularly well-known. In the Ethiopian genus _Corethrura_, extending to Madagascar, the males are blackish, spotted or streaked with white, and have fine chestnut heads, necks, or even breasts, the female being dusky with rufous mottlings: in _Rallicula_ of New Guinea the chestnut extends over most of the body. _Porzanula_ {249}_palmeri_ of Laysan, an interesting little flightless form with a soft chirping note, which the first discoverer caught with a hand-net, makes its nest under grass-tussocks. Closely allied to _Porzana_ is _Creciscus_, a genus of a dozen species ranging from the United States to the Galápagos, Chili, and Paraguay; two at least of them being remarkable for building a spherical nest with a side entrance in coarse herbage or low bushes, while one is said to make a sort of ladder to reach a platform before its porch.[173] _Limnocorax niger_ of the Ethiopian Region is a glossy black bird with red feet and greenish bill, which walks upon the leaves of water-lilies and such plants, like a Jaçana.

_Amaurornis_, inhabiting the Oriental Region and extending to New Britain, links the foregoing genera to the Gallinules. _A. phoenicura_ is a dark greyish bird with white under parts and chestnut flanks, the other three species being duller.

_Tribonyx mortieri_, the "Native Hen" of Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, and _T. ventralis_ of considerably wider range, are respectively ruddy- and olive-brown forms, with blackish tail and vent, slaty lower surface, and white flank-marks. They appear at times in flocks, which arrive and depart with equal suddenness, destroy the settlers' crops, strut about like fowls, and in many respects resemble Moor-Hens in habits, nests, and eggs. The legs are unusually powerful.

_Gallinula_ extends over the greater part of both hemispheres, and is represented in Europe, Asia, and Africa by our common Moor-Hen (_G. chloropus_), dark olive-brown above and grey below, with white lower tail-coverts, white flank-stripes, red frontal plate, and scarlet garter on the tibia. _G. galeata_ of most of the New World differs in the posteriorly truncated shield, but _G. sandvicensis_ of the Sandwich Islands is barely separable. The smaller African _G. angulata_, _G. tenebrosa_ of Australia and New Guinea, and _G. frontata_ of the two last-named countries, the Moluccas and Borneo, complete the group; unless _G. pyrrhorhoa_ of Madagascar and _G. dionysiana_ of St. Denys be accounted distinct from _G. chloropus_. The flightless _G._ (_Porphyriornis_) _nesiotis_ of Tristan da Cunha and _G. comeri_ of Gough Island have already been mentioned. _Gallicrex cinerea_, the "Water-Cock" of the Indian Region, which reaches Japan, is dull black, with lighter edges to the feathers above, a yellow and red bill, and red frontal shield. A pinkish {250}fleshy horn springs from the forehead, said to become very small in winter, and to be wanting in the female, which is varied below with white and buff. It has a loud booming cry, and fights like a domestic Cock, but otherwise resembles the Gallinules in habits.

_Porphyrio_ comprises some dozen fine species with blue plumage, found in Africa and Madagascar, and from the Mediterranean to South China and Polynesia; several individuals, probably escaped from captivity, being recorded from Britain. _P. caeruleus_ (_veterum_) is purplish-blue above with blacker remiges and rectrices, and purplish-black below with bright blue cheeks, throat, and chest, and white under tail-coverts; the bill, shield, and feet are red. It is chiefly a Mediterranean bird, but reaches Mesopotamia. Others of its congeners are greener or blacker. The habits, nest, and eggs are like those of the Coot, whereas the next genus–in the writer's opinion inseparable–appears more akin in manners to the Moor-Hen. _Porphyriola alleni_ occurs in Africa, with Madagascar and Rodriguez, and strays to the Canary Islands and South Europe; _P. martinica_ ranges from Florida, Texas, or even New England, to the West Indies and Brazil; _P. parva_, from the last-named to Amazonia and Guiana. _Porphyriops crassirostris_ and _P. melanops_ occupy South America.

_Notornis mantelli_ of New Zealand,[174] now probably extinct, was olive-green above with only a tinge of blue; the head, neck, and under surface being dark purplish-blue, the bill, shield, and feet red. It was practically a gigantic _Porphyrio_ with very stout legs, short wings, and soft tail, which was unable to fly, but ran with great swiftness, being solitary and retiring. Its native name Moho is that also given to other Rails in New Zealand, and _Pennula ecaudata_ in Hawaii; it therefore may only mean "Rail." The white _N. alba_ of Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands certainly exists no longer.

_Fulica_ includes twelve species, of which the majority are South American, though the genus extends over most of the globe; Polynesia possesses only _F. alai_ of the Sandwich Islands, but three of the members reach Patagonia. _F. atra_, our grey-black Coot, with flesh-coloured bill, white shield and greenish legs relieved by an orange garter, ranges through Europe and Asia, and to North Africa and the Philippines southwards; its habits are well-known, {251}while the lobed toes are noticed above. The smaller _F. lugubris_ of Sumatra, Java, and Celebes is hardly distinct; the North American _F. americana_ and the Australian _F. australis_ are very similar; the Andean _F. gigantea_ is extremely large; while the red frontal caruncles of the Bolivian _F. cornuta_ and of the African and South-European _F. cristata_ have already been mentioned.

Of fossil Rallidae an extraordinary number are found, ranging from the possibly toothed _Telmatornis_ of the American Cretaceous rocks, _Gypsornis_, _Orthnocnemus_, _Elaphrocnemus_, and _Tapinopus_ of the French Upper Eocene, and _Rallus_ of both Eocene and Miocene of the same country, to _Fulica minor_ of the Pliocene of Oregon. Of more recently exterminated forms we have _Tribonyx_ (?) _roberti_ from Central Madagascar, the long-billed flightless _Aphanapteryx broecki_ and _Fulica newtoni_ from the Mare aux Songes in Mauritius, _Porphyrio caerulescens_ from Réunion, and the "Poule Rouge" (_Erythromachus leguati_) from Rodriguez. In New Zealand are found the large _Aptornis defossor_ and _A. otidiformis_, with two species of _Notornis_; in the Chatham Islands _Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi_ and _Ocydromus insignis_–all six flightless; in the latter islands, too, an extinct _Fulica_ (_Palaeolimnas_) occurs, and in Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands _Notornis alba_, as above. Queensland furnishes _Porphyrio mackintoshi_, _P. reperta_, _Tribonyx effluxus_, _Gallinula strenuipes_, _G. peralata_, and _Fulica prior_. The Sandwich Islands may possibly yet contain _Rallus sandvicensis_ and _Pennula ecaudata_, further instances of flightless species, but this is improbable.

Fam. II. GRUIDAE.–The Cranes are very old forms, superficially somewhat like Herons, and often confounded with them in local parlance–as is the case in Scotland and Ireland. They are among the largest of Waders, and are scattered over most of the globe, except the Malay islands, Papuasia, and Polynesia; but in the Neotropical Region they are mere migrants from the north, never found south of Mexico. Their headquarters are in North-East Asia, while America possesses only three species, and Australia one.

These long-necked and long-legged birds have a moderate bill, straight and rather compressed, which varies from slender to stout, with a lateral groove on each side of the mandible and nasal furrows about halfway down the maxilla; in _Balearica_ this feature is comparatively short. The metatarsus is scutellated in front, reticulated behind; the tibia is partly bare; the toes are short and stout, the anterior being more or less connected at the base by a {252}membrane; the hallux is small, much elevated, and furnished with a sharp hooked claw. The wings are described by different writers as long or moderate, but are certainly ample and rounded, with about thirty-three quills, of which eleven are primaries; the decomposed inner secondaries exceed the last-named, and are either lanceolate and drooping, or broad and erectile, while in _Bugeranus_ and _Tetrapteryx_ they are extraordinarily extended. The short tail has twelve rectrices. _Anthropoïdes_ has long silky auricular plumes, _Balearica_ a bristly crest and a naked gular wattle, _Bugeranus_ a feathered lappet on each side of the throat, _Antigone australasiana_ a pendulous pouch, and most species, as will be seen below, a partly bare carunculated head. The tongue is lanceolate, the nostrils pervious; while, except in _Balearica_, the trachea of the adult is convoluted within the keel of the sternum, but enters it behind the clavicles,–which are often ancylosed with it,–and not in front of them, as in certain Swans, the development varying according to the species and the age. In _Anthropoïdes_ the cavity of the keel is open laterally. The furcula is Y-shaped, the aftershaft is very small, the down is uniform in both adults and young.

Cranes are inhabitants of morasses and plains, being especially fond of the neighbourhood of lagoons, tanks, and fields of corn or rice; yet they are also found in boggy openings in forests, on sandy flats, or even on the sea-shore. They are gregarious after the breeding season, when they often collect into flocks of immense size, which pass the night together and traverse vast distances in company. The northern species all migrate southwards in winter. Erect and tall, they may be seen striding swiftly along with head thrown back, or strutting around their mates; while in spring they often stand in rows and proceed to stalk about in single file, or dance to meet one another with nodding heads, necks advanced, and wings widely outspread. Thereafter they bow towards the ground, jump in the air, and perform graceful antics of all descriptions. The chosen spot for these dances is commonly near water. The male courts his spouse in somewhat similar fashion, and twigs or feathers are often tossed in the air in sport, to be caught again ere they touch the ground. Rising from a level spot appears to be a difficult matter, the birds running awkwardly for a few yards, and labouring heavily with their wings to gain their purpose; when once in the air, however, the flight is steady and swift, with head {253}and legs outstretched, though this is varied by countless elegant evolutions and gyrations, as they rise higher and higher until they become mere specks in the heavens, and finally disappear from sight. The characteristic utterance is a harsh guttural or resonant trumpeting sound, uttered on the ground with the head thrown back and the bill open, or repeated incessantly at great elevations; but the Whooping Crane has a clear, piercing cry, the Asiatic White Crane a feeble but mellow whistle, and the Crowned Cranes a plaintive but fairly sonorous set of notes. The varying calibre of the voice has been thought to be connected with the convolutions of the trachea mentioned above, the young giving vent to a weak pipe or trill. Virgil's lines concerning the noise made before rain, and the flight, are well-known to Latin scholars. The food consists of grain, pulse, acorns, shoots, flowers, roots, tubers, bulbs, and the like, with the occasional addition of small mammals and birds, reptiles, amphibians, worms, insects, and even fish; the members of this Family, however, dislike wading, and only swim under compulsion. Feeding chiefly in the morning and evening, when they post sentinels, as Rooks do, they often stand or doze upon one leg, with the head drawn back upon the shoulders. Cranes, which are said to pair for life, return to the same breeding haunts annually, where they either construct a large fabric of reeds, rushes, and aquatic herbage, or use straw and small twigs for their nest. The conical pile, with its moderate depression on the top, is commonly placed in shallows, fresh materials being added if the water rises. Several species, on the other hand, merely scrape a hole in marshy ground, on dry plains, among standing corn or grass, or on sandy beaches, while occasionally reed-beds are selected. The eggs, two, or rarely three in number, are generally creamy white, olive-brown or buff, with reddish-brown, red, or purplish-grey spots and blotches; those of the Indian Sarus Cranes have a bluish- or greenish-white ground, while those of the Crowned Cranes are not uncommonly plain bluish-white. The male is said to incubate in some cases, and both parents tend the young carefully for a considerable time, though the latter run from the shell; the female sits with her head drawn in upon her shoulders, and is usually loth to leave her charge. When wounded these birds are very dangerous, fighting boldly with bill and wings. They are very palatable when fed on grain, the breast in particular {254}resembling beef-steak. Cranes are easily domesticated, and, in certain districts of India, in Japan, and among the Kalmuks, they are held in reverence, though elsewhere they are often killed for the sake of their decorative plumes.

_Grus communis_, the Common Crane of Europe and Northern Asia, which used to breed in Britain until the end of the sixteenth century, and reaches North Africa, India, and China on the winter migration, is ashy-grey, with white cheeks, nape, and sides of the neck, black primaries and inner secondaries; the crown being bare, with blackish bristles and red warty skin. _G. lilfordi_ of East Siberia is a lighter race. _G. canadensis_ is a smaller species, hardly different from _G. mexicana_, the "Sandhill Crane" of the United States, which is slaty-grey, with a brownish wash. _G. monachus_, another similar form from Eastern Asia, has all the head white except the bare portion. _G. nigricollis_ of Koko-nor has the feathered part of the head, the upper neck, the wings, tail, and inner secondaries black; _G. japonensis_ of North Eastern Asia is white, with grey-black throat and fore-neck, the dark colour extending to a point on the hind-neck. _G._ (_Limnogeranus_) _americana_, the Whooping Crane of the United States and Mexico, is pure white with black primaries, the bristly head, lores, and cheeks being bare, and covered with warty red skin. _G._ (_Sarcogeranus_) _leucogeranus_, the Asiatic White Crane, is entirely white, except for the black primaries, and has all the front of the head bare, the red skin extending beyond the eye, and showing a few scattered hairs. This bird ranges at certain seasons to South-East Europe. _G._ (_Antigone_) _collaris_ of India and the Caspian is light grey, with brownish-black primaries, a white ring round the lower neck, and white inner secondaries; the grey-green crown is bare, the occiput and upper neck are red and papillose, with black bristles on the latter. The Burmo-Malay _G. sharpii_ is distinguished by the absence of white; while both enjoy in common the name Sarus. _G._ (_A._) _australasiana_, the "Native Companion" of East Australia, has the neck feathered, and possesses a red and green gular pouch, covered with the same black hairs as the face, the general coloration resembling that of its congeners. _G._ (_Pseudogeranus_) _leucauchen_, the "Tan-cho" or national Crane of the Japanese, part of the crown and the cheeks bare, warty, and red, with black hairs. often seen in their clever drawings, is grey, with white hind-crown, nape, throat, and inner secondaries; the rest of the wing-quills and the tip of the tail are black, the fore-part of the crown and the cheeks bare, warty, and red, with black hairs.

{255}[Illustration: FIG. 51.–Crowned Crane. _Balearica pavonina._ × ⅛.]

It is found westward to Lake Baikal, and southward in winter to the Yangtse basin. _G._ (_Bugeranus_) _carunculata_, the Wattled Crane of South Africa, is slaty-coloured, becoming blacker towards the tail, and browner towards the mantle; the cheeks and the whole neck are white, with elongated chest plumes; a lappet, with white feathering, hangs from each side of the throat; and the fore-part of the head is covered with bare red papillose skin. _G._ (_Tetrapteryx_) _paradisea_, the "Stanley" Crane of the same districts, is leaden blue, with black ends to the inner secondaries, and a white crown; the head is entirely feathered, and the chest plumes elongated as in the next species. _G._ (_Anthropoïdes_) _virgo_, the "Demoiselle" Crane, inhabits South Europe, and extends to Central Asia and North China, migrating to {256}Northern Africa and India in winter. It is silvery-grey, with white ear-tufts, black sides of the head, neck, chest, primaries, and tips to the inner secondaries. _Balearica pavonina_, the Crowned Crane of the northern Ethiopian Region, is greenish-black above and dark grey below, most of the feathers being lanceolate; the neck is delicate grey all round, the secondaries are chestnut–the inner being somewhat decomposed; white and yellow shew on the wing-coverts; a spreading tuft of twisted yellow and white bristles with black tips surmounts the occiput, while the sides of the face are bare–white above and pink below, and the throat is covered with black down. There is a very small throat-wattle in this form, but _B. chrysopelargus_, the Kaffir Crane of South Africa, has it much larger and chiefly red, differing moreover in its greyer plumage, and white cheek-patch with only a border of crimson above. In _B. gibbericeps_ of East Africa, the bare skin of the face extends almost to the nape.

In Cranes the sexes are alike; but the young are browner, with rusty or buff tips to the feathers, or even with downy instead of more or less naked heads, as in adults. Immature birds lack the elongated plumes. The bill is usually greenish-grey, brown, or black, at times with a little red, but it is yellow in _Limnogeranus_; the feet vary from greyish- or bluish-black to dull green or flesh-colour; the iris is generally crimson, orange, or yellow.

The Upper Eocene of Hampshire furnishes the fossil _Geranopsis_ as well as _Grus_, the Italian Eocene _Palaeogrus_, that of Wyoming four species of _Aletornis_; Grus occurs, moreover, in the Miocene of France, the Pliocene of Attica and the United States, while _G. primigenia_ of the French and Italian Plistocene, with _G. melitensis_ of the Zebbug cave in Malta, complete the list.

Fam. III. ARAMIDAE.–In this group, as in the _Psophiidae_ (p. 257), the osteology and pterylography are Crane-like, the digestive organs and style of plumage Rail-like; a link being thus formed between the two Families. The long, hard bill is slender and compressed, with slightly curved tip; the tibia is partly bare, the metatarsus scutellated. The wing has eleven primaries and some dozen secondaries. The long tongue is said to end in horny filaments, the trachea is sometimes convoluted in males, the nostrils are pervious.

_Aramus pictus_, the Clucking Hen or Limpkin of the Greater Antilles, South Florida, and Central America, is chocolate-brown {257}with white flecks; the upper parts are glossed with bronzy-purple, the bill is greenish. _A. scolopaceus_, the Carau, Courlan, Lamenting Bird, or Crazy Widow, ranging from Guiana to Argentina, has only the head and neck streaked. Generally solitary or found in family-parties, these birds conceal themselves by day among reeds or damp forest-vegetation; they rise with difficulty after a preliminary run, and take low, brief flights, the legs hanging down and the wings flapping slowly, while the latter are elevated for a descent. They walk quickly and in stately fashion, limping and jerking the tail; at night they roost on trees. The resonant, melancholy wail is varied by a clucking note, or by an angry cry when breeding. The shallows of streams or marshes are diligently searched for molluscs, which the formation of the beak enables the bird easily to open or break, but small reptiles, insects, and worms are also eaten. The flat nest of herbage, placed among reeds, contains from ten to twelve white eggs, as large as those of a Turkey, clouded with pale brown and purple.[175]

[Illustration: FIG. 52.–Trumpeter. _Psophia crepitans._ × ⅙.]

Fam. IV. PSOPHIIDAE.–The so-called Trumpeters form a single genus of six species inhabiting tropical South America, and somewhat resemble long-necked and long-legged Fowls, the beak being gallinaceous and the tibia partly bare. The long metatarsi are scutellated in front; the wings and tail are short, the ten primaries, {258}just equalling the twelve secondaries. The nostrils are pervious. The downy nestlings are chestnut streaked with grey.

_Psophia crepitans_, the Agami, ranging from British Guiana to Amazonia, is a black bird with velvety plumage on the head and neck, and lax feathering below; a golden-green and violet sheen adorns the lower fore-neck, a rusty brown patch crosses the back and wing-coverts, the bare orbits are pinkish, the beak is greenish or greyish, and the legs are variously stated to be bright green or flesh-coloured. _P. napensis_ of Ecuador has the sheen on the neck dull purple, _P. leucoptera_ of Peru and Upper Amazonia lacks the brown above, and has the inner wing-coverts and inner secondaries white, these feathers being ochraceous in _P. ochroptera_ of the right bank of the Rio Negro. _P. viridis_ of Amazonia–from Pará up the right bank of the Rio Madeira to the Rio Mamoré–perhaps identical with _P. obscura_, has the back and inner secondaries glossed with green. The sexes are similar.

These birds love moist forests, and sometimes form flocks of three hundred individuals; they are so sociable and easily tamed that the natives use them to protect poultry. They perch, but seldom fly, and run swiftly with a peculiar gait, while they swim on an emergency. The deep-toned ventriloquistic, but not strictly trumpeting, cry is uttered with widely opened beak; the food consists of fruit, corn, and insects. The nest, said to be at the foot of a tree, contains creamy- or greyish-white eggs, like those of a Bantam.

Fam. V. CARIAMIDAE.–These birds have given rise to much discussion, and have been placed by several authors in the Accipitres, near the Secretary-Bird, which they somewhat resemble in their erect carriage, general appearance, and habits. The beak is short, broad, and slightly hooked, the neck is rather long, the legs decidedly so; the tibia is

## partially bare, the metatarsus is entirely scutellated, the claws are sharp

and curved. The wings are short, with fourteen elongated secondaries and ten primaries; the long, graduated tail has twelve rectrices. The nostrils are pervious. The internal anatomy and pterylosis are Gruine, an aftershaft is present, and the downy young are either grey and brown (_Cariama_) or rufous and black (_Chunga_). _Cariama cristata_, the Seriemá, or Crested Screamer (p. 110), extending from Pernambuco to Paraguay and Matto Grosso, is ochreous-grey above with zigzag umber markings, and whitish below with brown stripes. Vertical feathers on the lores form a conspicuous crest, while those of the neck and throat {259}are long and loose; interrupted white bands cross the remiges, and the bases and tips of the lateral rectrices. The iris is yellow, the beak and feet are red, the naked orbits greenish. The female is yellower, and exhibits less crest. _Chunga burmeisteri_, the Chuñia of Tucuman and Catamarca in Argentina, is smaller and darker, with shorter legs and little crest; it has a broad white superciliary streak, and two wide black bars on the tail-feathers, except the median pair. The bill and feet are black, the iris is grey.

[Illustration: FIG. 53.–Seriemá. _Cariama cristata._ × ⅐.]

Both species are chiefly diurnal, the former frequenting the high grass of the open "campos" in pairs and parties of five or six, the latter forests or bushy districts; they roost on trees, {260}stalk about in stately fashion, stoop when running, and fly a little when hard pressed. The barking or screaming cry is chiefly heard towards dusk; the food consists of small mammals, snakes, lizards, snails, worms, insects and their larvae, as well as berries, _Chunga_ preferring the insect diet. Easily domesticated, and in Brazil protected by custom, these birds will guard their owners' fowls; while the male at times incubates and shews off to the females in spring, like a Bustard. _Cariama_ builds a nest of twigs in low trees or bushes; _Chunga_ generally chooses the ground; but in either case the young soon leave their quarters; the two eggs have a pale ground-colour with rufous blotches, as in so many Rails. The Seriemá has been hatched in the Zoological Society's Gardens in London.

The fossil _Phororhachos_ and certain others of the so-called Stereornithes (p. 44) probably belong here.

Fam. VI. OTIDIDAE.–The Bustards are here admitted as a Family of the Gruiformes, though many writers have preferred to refer them to the Limicolae, and the question is by no means finally settled. The head is flat, the neck thick, the bill somewhat blunt and depressed, being either short, as in _Otis_ and _Trachelotis_, or longer, as in _Neotis_ and _Lissotis_. The metatarsus varies much, the length for instance being comparatively great in _Houbaropsis_, and small in _Otis tetrax_, while both surfaces are covered with reticulated scales; the short, stout toes have flattish nails, and the hallux is absent, as in many Limicoline forms. The wings are moderate, with the secondaries almost equal to the primaries, the latter–which are acuminate in _Sypheotis_–being eleven in number, and the former about twenty; the tail, of medium length, has a more or less rounded outline, and possesses from fourteen to twenty rectrices. Ornamental plumes are characteristic of this group, and take the form of decided crests on the crown and nape, or on the latter alone, in all the genera except _Otis_, _Neotis_, _Lissotis_, _Trachelotis_, and _Sypheotis_; the last-named, however, has elongated cheek-feathers with bare shafts and spatulate webs. The plumes of the throat and fore-neck are lengthened and shield the breast in _Houbaropsis_ and _Eupodotis_, those of the sides of the neck form a ruff in _Houbara_; while _Otis_ is remarkable for the prolonged ear-coverts, and for the tuft of long bristly feathers on each side of the base of the mandible in the male.

The nostrils are pervious, the tongue is sagittate, the furcula {261}is Y-shaped, and often ancylosed with the sternum, the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial. An after-shaft is present, and the down, which is uniform in the young only, is in them mottled with black and lighter tints. A most remarkable phenomenon, moreover, is the gular pouch, opening under the tongue, found in the male of some examples of _Otis tarda_ during the breeding season. This pouch becomes very small or vanishes altogether at other times of the year, and seems to be restricted to adult birds. Similar, but smaller, processes have been observed in _Eupodotis kori_, _E. edwardsi_ and, it is said, _Otis tetrax_; while dilatations of the oesophagus have been recorded in _E. australis_ and _Neotis denhami_.

[Illustration: FIG. 54.–Great Bustard. _Otis tarda._ × ⅑ or ⅒.]

_Otis tarda_, the Great Bustard, which, as a native, only became extinct in Norfolk about 1838, used to extend from East Lothian to Dorset, but is now merely an occasional visitor to Britain. The upper parts are mottled with rufous, buff, and {262}blackish-brown, the head is blue-grey, with long white bristles at the base of the mandible, the lower surface is white, relieved in the male by a tawny gorget for a short time during the breeding season. The primaries are black, most of the secondaries and wing-coverts white. Some other Bustards seem to have a similar vernal change of plumage. The female is smaller and has no bristles. _O. tetrax_, the Little Bustard, a straggler to our shores, is somewhat like the last species in colour, but has the cheeks and throat grey, bordered by a white line, and below this comes a broad black collar divided in front by a median white band in the nesting time. The female is brown and black, with white breast and no collar. The remaining members of the Family vary considerably in pattern of colour, being spotted, streaked, or vermiculated above, and being occasionally very dark; the head and the lower parts, moreover, are not uncommonly quite black, or the latter may be greyish-blue, as in _Trachelotis coerulescens_. The bill and feet are usually yellow, more seldom greyish or dusky. Females and young exhibit a more uniform mixture of brown, black, and buff, while rufous bases to the feathers are characteristic of the group.

Bustards are Old World birds, reaching eastwards to Australia, where _Eupodotis australis_ is called the "Native Turkey." _E. edwardsi_ inhabits the plains of India, _E. arabs_ extends from Arabia to North Africa, and _E. kori_ from the East to the South of that continent. _Otis_ ranges over South and Central Europe, and thence to North Africa, inhabiting also Mid-Asia to North-West India, the Yangtze-Kiang River and Japan. _Houbara undulata_, the African Ruffed Bustard, reaches from the Canaries,[176] through the Mediterranean basin to about Armenia; its congener _H. macqueeni_, which strays westward to Britain, being resident in Persia, North India and Central Asia. _Houbaropsis bengalensis_ and _Sypheotis aurita_ are the Florican and Lesser Florican of India; _Lophotis_, _Compsotis_, _Heterotetrax_, _Neotis_, _Lissotis_, and _Trachelotis_ inhabit the Ethiopian Region. The members of the Family are to some extent migratory, and perhaps the Great Bustard was partly so of old in Britain.

The members of this Family flock in winter, and occasionally form small

## parties at other seasons, the males being very possibly polygamous, though

the fact is hardly proved. Typically inland birds, they haunt dry grassy and sandy plains, or cultivated ground {263}where the crops are low, yet sometimes they choose more bushy flats, or stony tops of elevated ridges. Their flight is prolonged and often rapid, though invariably heavy, the neck and legs being outstretched; the Great Bustard rises from the ground slowly, the Little Bustard with a rattling noise, but they are frequently loth to leave it, crouching to escape detection on the similarly coloured soil. They stalk about rapidly and run with ease, being shy, wary, and far-sighted, while they are more easy to approach when they resort to water. The quill-feathers are said to be lost after breeding.[177] In spring the pugnacious cocks strut around the hens, swelling out their plumage, and inflating the gular pouch when it is present; the head meanwhile is thrown backwards, the wings droop, the tail is usually erected and outspread, and booming or crooning utterances with leaps diversify the performance. At times the notes are described as scolding, drumming, craking, and clucking, or resemble "cok-cok" or "prut-prut." The diet consists chiefly of juicy plants, such as young corn and turnips, clover and plantains, but it includes berries and seeds, insects and their larvae, molluscs, myriapods, frogs, or even small reptiles and mammals. The Gom-Paauw[178] (_Eupodotis kori_) is so-called from its love of mimosa gum. The eggs, varying from two to four or five in different species, are deposited in an excavation in the soil–sometimes lined with grass–under shelter of a bush, tussock, or growing crop; they are oily-green, olive, drab, red-brown, or exceptionally bluish-green, and are generally blotched, clouded, or zoned with purplish or dull red. The hen sits very closely. Bustards can be circumvented by riding round them in constantly diminishing circles, and they are also captured with Falcons.[179]

A fossil _Otis_ is recorded from the Miocene of France and Germany.

Fam. VII. RHINOCHETIDAE.–This contains only one species, _Rhinochetus jubatus_, the Kagu of New Caledonia, a very old and generalized form, somewhat bigger than an ordinary fowl, which was originally referred to the Herons and then to the Cranes, but is undoubtedly nearly allied to the latter, and approximates rather closely to _Eurypyga_.[180]

{264}[Illustration: FIG. 55.–Kagu. _Rhinochetus jubatus._ × ⅕.]

The head and eyes are large; the neck is strong; the bill is Heron-like, but somewhat flat above, with a wide nasal groove. The sternum is weak and narrow, having no posterior notch; the furcula is U-shaped; the legs are moderately long and slender, the toes Rail-like, with curved claws; the tibia is half bare, the metatarsus scutellated, with smaller scales behind. The wings are moderate, broad, and rounded, though less developed than in _Eurypyga_, the primaries being ten in number, and the secondaries–of which the inner exceed the primaries–thirteen; the tail is fairly long and ample, with twelve rectrices. The aftershaft is large; the nostrils are impervious, contrary to the rule in the Order, being severally overhung by a peculiar rolled-up membrane, said to protect them when the beak is thrust into the soil; the tongue is lanceolate. Powder-down patches are profusely distributed over the whole body, except towards the remiges and rectrices. The plumage is slaty-grey, with indistinct dark bars on the wings and tail; but when the former are expanded, rufous and white bands appear, varied by black markings; while a long, erectile whitish-grey crest adorns the occiput and nape. The bill and feet are orange-red. In adults down covers the whole surface. Possibly the chicks remain a {265}considerable time in the nest, but this is by no means certain; those of _Eurypyga_ do so, it is true, but those of Cranes and Rails do not. Immature specimens are more rufous, with black bars above.

Though formerly the Kagu was not rare in its native island, it is now restricted to the wilder portions, where it is to be met with among the rocks of craggy ravines or near stagnant waters, sleeping throughout the day and issuing from its concealment towards evening. It walks quickly, yet in a stately manner, often coming to a standstill or crouching, and remaining motionless for a long period; but it can also run rapidly with the head and neck outstretched, and the body carried after the manner of a Rail. The habits in confinement, however, make it somewhat doubtful whether the bird is as nocturnal as is asserted, for in the daytime it is quick and lively in its motions, chasing its fellow-captives, dancing round with the tip of its outspread wing or tail held fast in its bill, tossing about dry leaves or pieces of paper, spreading out its wings and thrusting its beak into the ground, kicking with its legs, and finally tumbling about as if in a fit. The note is guttural and rattling, or almost a scream; the food consists of molluscs, worms, and insects, sought for among the grass or in crannies, while the bill is often plunged into the soil, and worms pulled out, shaken and swallowed. When in quest of food the bird often paws the earth with gentle strokes, and snails are usually beaten upon the ground to break the shell. It will bathe in captivity, and is said to like wet weather in its native haunts. The nest is unknown, but eggs laid at the Zoological Society's Gardens in London are reddish-buff with brown and grey markings, and recall those of the Woodcock or Corncrake.[181]

Fam. VIII. EURYPYGIDAE.–Two species of _Eurypyga_ are comprehended herein, namely, _E. helias_ of the countries from Venezuela to Bolivia and Central Brazil, and _E. major_ of Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador. These are, like the Kagu, very ancient types, but whereas that bird shows some affinity to _Scopus_, these trend rather towards _Nycticorax_, both being, however, essentially Gruiform. The neck is long and thin, the bill rather slender, with grooves on the maxilla and mandible: the whole leg and foot are as in _Rhinochetus_, but shorter, weaker, and reticulated behind; the wings and tail are even more ample, while the number of primaries and rectrices are the same, but the secondaries are only {266}eleven, and the inner feathers comparatively short. The nostrils are pervious, the tongue is lanceolate, the furcula is U-shaped, the after-shaft is diminutive, and the powder-down patches are abundant, though writers differ as to their extent. _E. helias_–as Prof. Newton says in his excellent account[182]–is not to be described in a limited space otherwise than generally; it has a black head, with a white stripe above and under each eye, and a white throat: the remaining plumage "being variegated with black, brown, chestnut, bay, buff, grey, and white–so mottled, speckled, and belted either in wave-like or zigzag forms, as somewhat to resemble certain moths. The bay colour forms two conspicuous patches on each wing, and also an antepenultimate bar on the tail, behind which is a subterminal band of black. The irides are red; the bill is greenish-olive; and the legs are pale yellow." _E. major_ is larger and more uniform in colour. Both adults and nestlings have copious down, that of the latter being lightish brown with lines and spots of darker brown and white. The sexes are similar.

[Illustration: FIG. 56.–Sun-Bittern. _Eurypyga helias._ × ¼.]

The "Sun-Bittern," to use its common but misleading name, is found on the larger rivers, where the banks are wooded and swampy; it is shy but easily tamed, and, according to Bates, is kept in captivity by the Brazilians. It walks quietly and circumspectly with horizontal body and outstretched head, and probably flies but little. Like the Kagu, it executes a fantastic dance, but in this case the wings and tail form a semicircle which nearly conceals the body. The note is a soft or plaintive long-drawn {267}whistle, the food consists mainly of small fish and insects, which the bird spears by darting out its head quickly. The nest, said to be made of sticks, grass, and mud, with a lining of the latter, is placed on low branches, and contains several eggs similar to those of the Kagu, but smaller. Both parents incubate and attend to the young, which have several times been reared in the Zoological Society's Gardens in London.[183]

Fam. IX. HELIORNITHIDAE.–The Finfoots, comprising three genera and four species, now generally coupled with the Rallidae, have been placed near the Divers and Grebes by several authors. The head is small, the neck thin, the bill Rail-like and fairly stout; the metatarsus, which is scutellated anteriorly and reticulated posteriorly, is short, twisted outwards, and deeply grooved; while the toes have short, sharp claws, and broad scalloped webs, extending in _Heliornis_ to most of their length. The long pointed wings have twenty-one remiges, of which eleven are primaries, and are armed with a curved spine; the tail consists in _Podica_ of eighteen elongated, stiff, ribbed rectrices, which are narrow and pointed, and in _Heliopaïs_ and _Heliornis_ of rather soft, short, rounded feathers. The plumage is close, but not glossy as in Grebes; there is no after-shaft, the U-shaped furcula ancyloses with the sternum, the tongue is lanceolate, and the nostrils are pervious.

These birds, which frequent the swamps or rocky streams of inland woods, are very shy; their flight is heavy, and they rise with difficulty from the surface of the water, aiding themselves by their feet. They swim and dive well, and will remain half-submerged for hours, or will sit upon a low branch over a stream, dropping down and scrambling up the bank when disturbed, or hiding at its base. They are said, moreover, to run swiftly on land. The note of _Heliornis fulica_ is like a dog's bark; the food is in all cases of small fish, crustaceans, insects, and seeds. The nest and eggs are unknown, but in the species just mentioned the nestlings are stated to be naked. This form, about thirteen inches long, which ranges from Guatemala to Paraguay, is olive-brown above, the black head and nape being separated by a white band down each side of the neck from a blackish line which encloses the white throat; the chest is buff, the sides are brown, the remaining underparts whitish; the bill is red, the feet are yellow, banded with black. _Podica senegalensis_ of West Africa, and the doubtfully distinct {268}_P. petersi_, reaching from the Lower Congo to South East Africa, are larger forms, with round ochreous spots above, and red feet. _Heliopaïs personata_, extending from Assam to Sumatra, has a black throat, orange bill, and light green feet.

ORDER XI. CHARADRIIFORMES.

The Charadriiformes are here taken to consist of five Sub-Orders. Of these the LIMICOLAE contains the Families _Charadriidae_ (Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and so forth), _Chionididae_ (Sheath-bills), _Glareolidae_ (Pratincoles, Coursers, and Crab-Plover), _Thinocorythidae_ (Seed-Snipes), _Oedicnemidae_ (Stone-Curlews), and _Parridae_ (Jaçanas); the LARI possesses one Family, _Laridae_ (Gulls, Terns, and Skuas); the ALCAE only the _Alcidae_ (Auks); the PTEROCLES, the _Pteroclidae_ (Sand-Grouse); but the COLUMBAE may be divided into _Dididae_, _Didunculidae_, and _Columbidae_. The first three may again be combined into a Laro-Limicoline group, and the last two into a Pteroclo-Columbine, in accordance with their affinities.

In structure the LIMICOLAE are sufficiently uniform to be considered simultaneously.

The bill furnishes a useful means of subdividing the _Charadriidae_. It is hardest in _Haematopus_, _Ibidorhynchus_, _Strepsilas_, and so forth, being in them bony throughout. In _Charadrius_, _Aegialitis_, _Lobivanellus_, _Vanellus_, and the like, it has a hard tip, but is comparatively flexible towards the base. These may compose Sub-family (1) _Charadriinae_. In _Totanus_, and its nearest allies, it is still hard at the tip, but more flexible at the base. In _Tringa_, and similar genera, it ceases to be hard at the tip, and is slightly endowed with nerves. These may constitute Subfamily (2) _Tringinae_. In _Scolopax_, _Gallinago_, and _Rhynchaea_ it becomes highly nervous at the tip, and therein differs from that of all other birds. These form Sub-family (3) _Scolopacinae_. In _Himantopus_ and _Recurvirostra_ the bill is so attenuated as hardly to be called hard at the tip, but it has no nerves there. The form of the beak varies greatly, being asymmetrical and twisted to the right in _Anarhynchus_, up-curved from the middle in _Avocetta_, wedge-like in _Haematopus_, much flattened in _Tringa platyrhyncha_, spade-shaped in _Eurynorhynchus_, arched in _Numenius_, and strongly decurved in _Ibidorhynchus_. In the Chionididae a horny sheath covers the base of the maxilla, and is indicated by faint lines in the young; in _Glareola_ the bill is short, curved, and very {269}deeply split, making a wide gape; in _Dromas_ it is hard, deep, and compressed; in _Cursorius_ thick and little bent; in the Thinocorythidae Fowl-like; in the Oedicnemidae short, stout, and blunt; in the Parridae narrow and pointed, with a skinny frontal plate, and occasionally with rictal wattles. The nasal grooves are very long in _Ibidorhynchus_, _Totanus_, _Scolopax_ and elsewhere.

The tibia is often partly bare, and the metatarsus is extremely variable; the legs are longer in _Himantopus_ than in any other bird of its size, and long also in _Recurvirostra_, _Cursorius_, _Dromas_, the Parridae, and so forth, while _Haematopus_, _Aegialitis_, _Scolopax_, _Glareola_, _Chionis_, _Tringa_, and the Thinocorythidae are instances of the contrary. Both the front and back of these members are scutellated in most Scolopacinae and Tringinae, but the Charadriinae differ considerably in this respect; in _Glareola_ the fore-part only is transversely scutellated, in _Cursorius_, _Dromas_, the Thinocorythidae and Parridae the whole of the surface, while in the Chionididae and Oedicnemidae both aspects are reticulated. The anterior toes are ordinarily free, or have the third and fourth digits slightly connected; but _Dromas_ and _Recurvirostra_ have them partly webbed, as to some extent have _Himantopus_, _Totanus semipalmatus_, and a few other forms, while in _Phalaropus_ the metatarsus is much compressed, and the toes have lobed margins. The hallux, normally set rather high, is frequently aborted, as in _Charadrius_, _Ibidorhynchus_, _Calidris_, _Cursorius_ and _Oedicnemus_; in the Thinocorythidae and _Glareola_ it is very small, in _Dromas_ larger; in the Parridae all four digits are on a level and abnormally long, as are the claws, so that the birds walk easily on floating vegetation. The nail of the mid-toe is pectinated in the Glareolidae, recalling that of the Caprimulginae (Night-jars). The digits are often somewhat fleshy, _Oedicnemus_ moreover, has an enlarged tibio-tarsal joint.

The wings are usually long, having a bilobed appearance owing to the equality of the inner secondaries and outer primaries; _Himantopus_, _Dromas_, _Glareola_, and the Thinocorythidae have them much elongated, _Phegornis_ and some other forms very short, while in _Vanellus_ the expanse is most noticeable. In this genus, _Lobivanellus_, _Hoplopterus_, the Chionididae, and the Parridae, is found a carpal spur, often large and sharp; _Metopidius_, and, apparently, _Hydralector_ have the radius dilated into a sub-triangular lamina[184]; {270}_Hydrophasianus_ has peculiar filamentous appendages to the first and fourth primaries; _Scolopax minor_ has the three exterior of the normal eleven primaries particularly attenuated. The secondaries in the Limicolae vary from ten to twenty.

The rectrices are usually twelve; though _Rhynchaea_ and the Parridae have ten, while _Scolopax stenura_ and _S. megala_ possess twenty and twenty-six respectively, the outer of which are exceedingly stiff and narrow–not to give further instances. The tail in _Glareola_ is deeply furcate and Swallow-like, in _Hydrophasianus_ it has the four median plumes very long and decurved in the breeding season; but it is often quite short, as in _Scolopax_. The form may be slightly forked, as in _Chionis_; somewhat graduated or cuneate, as in the Thinocorythidae, _Totanus hypoleucus_, and _Oedicnemus_; rounded, as in _Cursorius_; or almost even, as in _Vanellus_.

The tongue is rather long and pointed, being, however, rudimentary in _Numenius_; the nostrils are pervious, except in the Thinocorythidae, Glareolidae, and perhaps _Dromas_, and have at times a leathery operculum in Plovers; the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial, the furcula U-shaped; _Parra_ has a decidedly muscular gizzard, and the Thinocorythidae possess a globular crop. The convoluted trachea of _Rhynchaea_, the papillae on the orbits of _Chionis_, the caruncles on the face of _Machetes_, and the loral wattles of _Lobivanellus_ are fully described below. The aftershaft is very small in the Parridae, rather large elsewhere. In adults the down is sparing; in the young it is short, thick, and commonly of a yellowish hue, with brown longitudinal stripes; though it may be grey, as in _Chionis_ and _Haematopus_; mottled with reddish and white, as in Snipes; or with black, orange, yellow, and white, as in Phalaropes.

The plumage is usually plain brown or grey, with an admixture of white, or less commonly chestnut; _Vanellus_, _Lobivanellus_, and _Cursorius chalcopterus_, however, exhibit metallic hues, and _Chionis_ is white. Red or yellow beaks or feet adorn many forms. Crests occur in certain species of _Vanellus_, _Hoplopterus_, and _Lobivanellus_; the male of _Machetes_ (Ruff) is most remarkable for its lateral head-tufts and fine neck-frill, developed for the breeding season; _Numenius tahitiensis_ has peculiar bristly-pointed flank-feathers. In _Scolopax_ the large eyes are set unusually far back in the skull. The sexes are generally similar, but in _Eudromias_,[185] _Phalaropus_, and _Rhynchaea_ the female is brighter than {271}the male, as well as larger, the latter fact holding true of a considerable number of the Tringinae and Scolopacinae, and of the Parridae, though a special study of the subject is still needful. In several species the breeding plumage differs remarkably from that of winter.

The _Limicolae_ often flock together in the cold season, but are by no means uniform in their habits, and divergencies will be noticed under the various genera. They run well, often bobbing the head up and down, and fly strongly, wheeling round sharply in the air; while some Snipes rise in zigzag fashion. Typically waders, many, if not all of them, can swim on emergency, but few habitually do so, like Phalaropes. Exceptionally they perch on trees, or soar. Swamps, river-sides, and in winter the sea-coast, are the general haunts; but Coursers, Stone-Curlews and "Seed-Snipes" frequent arid or stony localities, _Dromas_ sandy islets or shores, _Chionis_ maritime rocks. _Vanellus cayennensis_ and _Parra jacana_ are said to indulge in dances, while Lapwings and other species feign to be wounded if their young are in danger. The food consists of crustaceans, molluscs, worms, and insects; rarely of small fish or eggs of other birds; but not uncommonly of vegetable matter, on which the Thinocorythidae entirely subsist. The usual note is shrill, but the "scape, scape" of the Snipe, the melancholy whistle of the Curlew, the yelp of the Godwit, the reiterated scream of the Oyster-catcher, and the sweet song or trill of Temminck's Stint and of the Green Sandpiper should be noticed among the exceptions. Usually four pyriform eggs, varying from brownish or olive-green to stone-colour, with double markings of lighter and darker shades, are arranged in a hole scraped in the ground, with or without lining, the small ends pointing to the centre. Those of Oyster-catchers and Stone-Curlews are more oval, while the Dotterel and some other species lay only three, and Stone-Curlews two. The Parridae amass a considerable pile of water-plants, _Chionis_ usually breeds in holes among rocks, the Green and the Wood-Sandpiper often use deserted nests of other birds. The young run almost from the shell, the Stone-Curlews and _Dromas_, which lays a white egg in sandy burrows, being to some extent exceptions. The male performs most of the duties of incubation in _Rhynchaea_, _Phalaropus_, and apparently the Dotterel, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Purple Sandpiper–if not elsewhere; while the Ruff is well known to be polygamous. Stone-Curlews and {272}Woodcocks are certainly somewhat crepuscular, and the drumming of the Snipe (p. 291) must be mentioned in passing. Nearly all Limicoline birds are migrants, and may frequently be heard overhead at night, when on passage. The flesh is generally excellent.

Fam. I. CHARADRIIDAE.–Sub-fam. 1. _Charadriinae._–The Dotterel (_Eudromias morinellus_), breeds on the fells and tundras of Northern Europe and Asia, as well as on the mountains of Scotland, Transylvania, Styria, and Bohemia–if not still in the English Lake District; in winter it migrates to Palestine and North Africa. The colour is ashy-brown, with black crown and nape, towards the latter of which the white superciliary streaks run down; the throat is whitish, the fore-neck brown, divided by a white gorget from the orange-chestnut lower breast; the abdomen is black, the lateral rectrices are tipped with white. The young are more rufous above, and grey and white below. Three olive eggs with brown blotches are laid in a depression of the mossy ground, the parents being tamer than most Plovers at the nest. _E. veredus_ inhabits Mongolia, wintering in the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, and Australia; _E. australis_ is confined to the last country; _E._ (_Zonibyx_) _modestus_, the only four-toed species of the genus, ranges from Tarapacá and Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. _Charadrius pluvialis_, the Golden Plover, breeds on the higher British moorlands, and reaches from Northern Europe to the Lena in Asia, overlapping about the Yenisei _C. fulvus_, with grey instead of white axillaries, which extends to Bering Sea and–as the stouter, shorter-toed race _C. dominicus_–to Greenland. Both the latter have occurred in England. The plumage is black, densely spotted with yellow above, the forehead and superciliary streaks are white, as are the sides of the body. In winter the under parts are nearly white. At that season the various species migrate southwards as far as Cape Colony, India, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and Chili. The loud clear whistle of the Golden Plover is a characteristic sound in summer on our sub-alpine hills, where the bird deposits four rich olive-brown eggs in a hollow in the herbage; it is very wary at the nest. The Grey Plover, _Squatarola helvetica_, with a distinct hind toe and black axillaries, is browner than the foregoing three-toed species in summer, and greyer in winter; it visits us from autumn to spring, but breeds in the far north of Eastern Europe, Asia, and America, reaching Cape Colony, Ceylon, and Tasmania on migration. _Erythrogonys cinctus_ of Australia, and {273}the long-billed _Oreophilus ruficollis_ of South America from Peru and Argentina to Patagonia and the Falklands, are nearly allied forms; while the rufous New Zealand _Charadrius_ (?) _obscurus_ apparently somewhat resembles the Dotterel in its habits and eggs.

[Illustration: FIG. 57.–Ringed Plover. _Aegialitis hiaticola._ × ⅖.]

_Aegialitis hiaticola_, the Ringed Plover, Sand-Lark, or Stone-runner, mistakenly called the "Ring Dotterel," which is common on the British coasts and even inland, extends from Smith's Sound eastwards to Bering Strait, and migrates to South Africa, North India, or accidentally, Australia. It breeds as far south as the Atlantic Islands, North Africa, and Turkestan. The plumage is light brown, with white forehead, post-ocular streak, upper neck, alar bar, outer rectrices, and under surface; the crown, lores, cheeks, and a collar–broader in front–being black. The young lack the black crown. The habits and "peeping" cry hardly require description. When nesting on the warrens of the Eastern Counties it is called the Stone-hatch, because it there lays its black-spotted drab eggs in a hole paved with small stones. _Ae. curonica_, the Little Ringed Plover, which strays to Britain, the Färoes, and Iceland, breeds on inland waters from Scandinavia to Japan; reaching southwards to North Africa, Turkestan, and China, and on migration to the Gaboon, Mozambique, Ceylon, and New Guinea. It is distinguished from the last species by the shafts of all the primaries, except the outer one, being dusky. _Ae. cantiana_, the Kentish Plover, which still nests in Kent and Sussex, occupies Europe–though very locally–North Africa, and Central Asia to China and Japan; it comparatively seldom breeds inland, and is found in winter as far as South Africa, India, and Australia. The collar is incomplete in front, the female has no black crown, while the black legs distinguish it from {274}the Ringed Plover. _Ae. semipalmata_, with a distinct web between the outer and middle toes, replaces the latter in North America, ranging in winter to Peru and Brazil; whereas _Ae. placida_ represents it in China, Japan, and India. The place of the Kentish Plover is taken in western North America by _Ae. nivosa_–with white lores instead of black–which migrates to Chili. _Ae. vocifera_, termed "Kill-deer" from its cry, inhabits North America, and extends in winter to northern South America, while it has been shot even in the Scilly Islands; the lores are brown, and the fore-neck exhibits two black bands. It nests in the interior on grass or ploughed fields. In _Ae. monachus_ of Southern Australia, the breeding male has a perfectly black head; in _Ae. asiatica_ of Central Asia, which has wandered to Britain, the head is brown, and the breast shews a black-edged chestnut band, somewhat similar to that in _Ae. bicincta_ of the Australian Region, and other species; _Ae. bifrontata_ of Madagascar has grey lores, and two black bands on the breast. Space fails to mention all the species of this large three-toed genus; but _Ae._ (_Thinornis_) _novae zealandiae_ of the New Zealand area, _Ae. falklandica_ of America from Chili and Argentina southwards, and _Ae. sanctae helenae_, the "Wire-bird" peculiar to St. Helena, should be noticed.

[Illustration: FIG. 58.–Wry-bill. _Anarhynchus frontalis._ × ⅖.]

_Anarhynchus frontalis_, the Wry-bill of New Zealand, is grey, with a black gorget and whitish lower parts; the habits are as in _Aegialitis_, but the laterally-twisted bill enables the bird to pick up insects from around stones with the greatest ease.

Thirteen species may perhaps be included in _Lobivanellus_ (Wattled Lapwing); but here, as in the next genus, _Vanellus_, there are many diversities of opinion. The two groups are fairly similar in habits, nests, and eggs. Some have a hallux, some not. _L. pectoralis_ of Australia and Tasmania, _L. indicus_, ranging from Arabia and Mesopotamia to Cochin China, _L. cinereus_ of China and Japan, which migrates as far as Bengal, _L. {275}melanocephalus_ of North-East Africa, _L. superciliosus_, extending from West Africa to Lake Tanganyika, and the crested _L._ (_Sarciophorus_) _tectus_, found from Senegal to East Equatorial Africa and Arabia, have small loral wattles; _L._ (_Lobipluvia_) _malabaricus_ of India, Ceylon, and Burma, _L. miles_, reaching from Timor Laut to New Guinea and Australia, _L. cucullatus_ of Sumatra, Java, and Timor, _L. lobatus_ of Australia, accidental in New Zealand, _L. lateralis_ of the southern, and _L. senegalensis_ of the northern Ethiopian Region, with _L. albiceps_ of West Africa and the Upper Congo, have large wattles, and, except the first, a wing-spur. _L. lobatus_ is olive-brown above, with black crown, nape, and wings; the cheeks, tail-coverts, and lower parts are white; the tail is white with black tip; the bill, wattles, and spurs are yellow, the feet purplish-red.

_Vanellus_ comprises the true Lapwings; it is a closely allied genus to the last, and varies as to the possession of a hind-toe. _V. cristatus_, the English Peewit or Green Plover, has the upper parts and motile crest bottle-green, with a purple and copper gloss; the throat and upper breast black; the cheeks, sides of the neck, base of tail, and under surface white; the upper and lower tail-coverts bay. The slow flapping flight and shrill cry are as familiar to us as are the cock's aerial evolutions, and the habit of tumbling on the ground with an apparently broken wing to decoy intruders from the brood. This species frequents alike cultivated ground, marshes, and wastes, depositing its four olive eggs with black markings in a scraping in the soil lined with a little dry herbage; towards autumn it feeds in large flocks upon the shore, being semi-crepuscular, as might be expected from the large eyes. Breeding in most of Europe, Northern Asia, and even North Africa, it strays to Greenland and Jan Mayen, occurs plentifully in Japan, and at times in Alaska, and migrates as far south as Barbados, North India, and China. The somewhat similar Téru-téru (_V. cayennensis_),[186] with long crest and large blunt yellow spur, occupies the east, and the larger _V. chilensis_ the west and south of South America; _V. resplendens_ inhabits the Andes of North Chili, Peru, and Ecuador; _V. coronatus_ South and East Africa; _V. melanopterus_, the latter and Arabia; _V. inornatus_ West and South-East Africa. The long legged _Chettusia gregaria_, which, like the next genus, possesses a hallux, has occurred in Britain and South-West Europe, but breeds from South-East Europe to Lake Saisan, and migrates to North-East {276}Africa, India, and Ceylon. _C. leucura_, of similar range, winters in North-East Africa and North India. _Defilippia crassirostris_ of North-East, and _D. leucoptera_ of South-East Africa, with very long toes and much white on the wing, are nearly akin to the above. _Hoplopterus spinosus_, the three-toed Spur-winged Lapwing of Egypt and the northern Ethiopian Region, which wanders to South-East Europe and Persia, is a crested black and white species with a brownish back. The Arabs call it "Zic-zac" from its cry, while it attacks birds on the wing with its spur. _H. speciosus_ occupies South Africa, _H. cayanus_ most of South America, _H. ventralis_ ranges from North and Central India to Hainan.

_Strepsilas interpres_, the Turnstone, has the head, rump, tail, and remiges black and white, the upper parts varied with chestnut and black, the breast black, the belly white, and the feet orange, with the hind toe turned inwards. In winter the coloration is chiefly grey and white. From its extensive migrations, it is possibly the most cosmopolitan of Birds, while it breeds in Northern Europe, Asia, and America, and as near us as Denmark, though not proved to do so in Britain. In autumn and spring this lively little species frequents our muddy shores or seaweed-covered rocks, often turning over the pebbles in search of food; the note is a twitter or whistle; the nest a slightly-lined excavation under shelter of some maritime shrub or stone, containing four grey-green eggs, marked with olive-brown. _S. melanocephalus_, of the Pacific coast of North America, lacks chestnut tints. _Aphriza virgata_, the Surf-bird, a brownish species with white alar bar, rump, and abdomen, found from Alaska to Chili, may perhaps be placed here. The position of the scarce Patagonian _Pluvianellus sociabilis_, which is chiefly grey above and white below, is equally doubtful. Both species lack the hallux. _Haematopus ostralegus_, the Oyster-catcher, inhabits Europe and Central Asia, extending–as the form _H. osculans_–to China and Japan; in winter it reaches Senegambia, Mozambique, Ceylon, and South China. From the black head, neck, and mantle, white lower back, underparts, wing-bar, and base of tail, it is called the Sea-Pie; while a habit of opening mussels with the long wedge-shaped bill gives it the name of Mussel-picker. Oyster-catcher seems a misnomer, but worms, crustaceans, and so forth vary the diet. It frequents shores and inland rivers, depositing three, or rarely four, oval drab eggs, with blackish and grey markings, on sand, shingle, or rocks. {277}The scream in the breeding season is often quite deafening, but at other times these wary birds are seldom noisy. Their flight is powerful, and they can swim and dive. The bill is orange and the feet flesh-coloured in this species, as well as in _H. longirostris_ of the Moluccas, Papuasia, Australia, and New Zealand, with longer bill and entirely black primaries. _H. leucopus_ of Chili, Patagonia, and the Falklands, has a black lower back and pale feet; _H. palliatus_ (with its races _frazari_, _galapagensis_, and _durnfordi_), ranging from Nova Scotia and California to Patagonia, has a brown mantle. Of the perfectly black or brownish-black species, _H. niger_, of both coasts of the North Pacific, has pale flesh-coloured feet; _H. moquini_, of the Ethiopian Region, the Canaries, and Madeira, has them deep red; _H. ater_, found from Peru to Patagonia and the Falklands, has the scarlet bill compressed and upturned; _H. unicolor_ of Australia and New Zealand has the feet brick-red. This genus has three toes, as has the remarkable _Ibidorhynchus struthersi_, with long decurved red bill and greenish-grey feet, found from Turkestan to China, and in the Himalayas. The front of the head is black, margined laterally with white; the upper parts and neck are grey, with white on the wings and outer rectrices, and black undulations on the tail, which has the tip and coverts mostly black; the under parts are white with a black gorget. The bill is black in the young. The note is whistling, the habits are like those of an Oyster-catcher, while islands in stony or sandy rivers furnish breeding sites.[187]

_Himantopus_ contains the extraordinarily long-legged Stilts, of which _H. candidus_ visits Britain and Northern Europe, but breeds only in the southern parts, including Hungary. It also nests in India and Ceylon, and in Africa–though chiefly in the north. In the cold season it reaches Timor, New Zealand, and elsewhere. The head, long neck, lower back, and under surface are white, the remaining parts greenish-black; the iris is carmine, the legs are pink. Females are browner above, while immature males have the crown and nape black or brownish. The note is clear and reiterated, the habits are Plover-like, but the nest, placed on mud or in grass-tufts, is more substantial than in those birds, and contains four olive eggs with black scrawls or blotches. Whether searching the shallows for insects or other food, hovering overhead with dangling feet, or flying with them outstretched, the appearance is equally remarkable. _H. mexicanus_ of temperate {278}North America, migrating to Peru and Brazil, has a black occiput and nape; _H. knudseni_ of the Sandwich Islands has the sides of the neck also black; _H. brasiliensis_ of southern South America has the nape only black, with a white collar below; _H. leucocephalus_ of Australia and New Zealand, which visits the Malay Islands, the Philippines, the Moluccas and Papuasia, is similar, but the black does not reach the eye; _H. melas_ of New Zealand is uniform black. _H._ (_Cladorhynchus_) _pectoralis_ of Southern Australia has webbed feet like the four-toed Avocets, though itself three-toed like other Stilts, from which a bay pectoral band distinguishes it. Of the Avocets with their curious up-curved beak, _Recurvirostra andina_, of the Chilian Andes, alone resembles the Stilts in possessing a black mantle. _R. avocetta_, which bred in England until at least 1824, now ranges from Denmark and Holland to Mongolia and South Africa, though decidedly local; in Asia it migrates southwards to Ceylon and Hainan. The plumage is white, with the crown, nape, inner scapulars, and part of the wings black, the legs light blue. It is called Cobbler's Awl, from its long, flexible bill, or Yelper, from its loud clear cry. Its general habits and slight nest recall those of Plovers, though the eggs are larger; while it seeks for aquatic creatures, in shallows or pools left by the tide, with a curious scooping sidelong action of the beak. _R. americana_, with a pale rufous head and neck, inhabits temperate America, extending in winter to the West Indies and Guatemala: _A. rubricollis_ (_novae hollandiae_), with those portions chestnut, ranges from Australia, where it breeds, to New Zealand.

Sub-fam. 2.–The _Tringinae_ of the present work–four-toed unless otherwise stated–are often separated into the groups _Phalaropodinae_, _Totaninae_, and _Tringinae_ proper; the first being remarkable for the Coot-like digits with lobed webs. _Phalaropus fulicarius_, the Grey Phalarope, which visits us in winter, and has even reached Chili and New Zealand, breeds in Spitsbergen, Iceland, Greenland, Arctic America, and Asia. It is blackish and chestnut above and rufous below, with a little white on the face, wings, and tail; but the plumage differs remarkably in winter, the upper parts becoming grey with a black nuchal patch, and the lower white. As in all the genus, the female is said to court the male, which is duller, and performs most of the duties of incubation. The eggs are larger and rounder than in the next species, the nest less concealed. _P._ (_Lobipes_) _hyperboreus_, the Red-necked Phalarope, {279}with more tapering bill, breeds in Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia, as well as from Alaska to Greenland, Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides; it rarely migrates to Western Europe, but reaches India, New Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru. It has dark grey and rufous upper parts, a white alar bar, throat, and belly, a grey breast, and chestnut sides of the neck nearly meeting in front. By winter the red tints have vanished and the white has increased. This attractive little bird is often so tame that it will feed at the feet of an intruder, or will even proceed to settle itself on its small and rather deep nest, placed in some tuft of herbage; the four eggs are greenish-olive with black markings. When disturbed from them it flies around with a shrill reiterated "tweet." It breeds in swamps or by hill-lakes, and can swim well, but is not found so far out to sea as the Grey Phalarope. _P._ (_Steganopus_) _wilsoni_, of temperate North America, migrating as far as Patagonia and the Falklands, is a larger, longer-billed bird, with a white nape and a black stripe down each side of the head and neck.

_Tringa alpina_, the Dunlin or Oxbird, is familiar to most autumn visitors to our flatter coasts. Breeding not uncommonly in Britain, though chiefly in the north, it is found in the colder parts of both the Old and the New World, while exceptionally its eggs have been obtained in Southern Spain; in winter it extends to the Canaries, Zanzibar, India, China, California, and the West Indies. When first they arrive on the shore the large flocks are remarkably tame, and allow even gunners to walk among them, as they forage with head bent down over the mud or sand, or rise with a cheeping cry, only to alight again at close quarters. The slight nest, placed amongst heather or short grass on some moory hill-pasture or seaside marsh, contains four greenish-white eggs with brown or rufous spotting. The plumage exhibits a mixture of rufous, grey, and black above, and is chiefly white beneath, with a large, black, pectoral patch; the decurved bill and the feet are black. Most of the rufous and all the black disappear in winter. _T. minuta_, the Little Stint, a miniature Dunlin with no black on the breast, and a short, straight bill, visits Britain regularly on passage, and breeds from the coasts of Northern Norway and Russia to Arctic Asia, a red-throated species or race (_T. ruficollis_) occurring east of the Lena; in winter the birds reach South Africa, the Indian Region, Australia, and Tasmania. _T. minutilla_, the darker American Stint, with olive feet, which occupies the Arctic New {280}World, has been obtained in England, and migrates at least as far as Ecuador and Brazil; the very similar Eastern Asiatic _T. subminuta_ reaches Bering Island, and winters southwards to the Indian Region and Australia. The habits and eggs of the Little Stint resemble those of the Dunlin, but the latter are smaller; the note, too, is more like the twitter of a swallow. _T. temmincki_ is greyish-brown above and more buff below, with dark markings throughout, white belly, alar bar and four outer rectrices. In winter the dusky markings vanish, and the birds resemble miniature Common Sandpipers. They frequently visit Britain, and breed in Northern Europe and Asia, chiefly beyond the limits of forest growth; migrating southwards to Senegambia, North-East Africa, India, the Malay countries, and China. Temminck's Stint has a hovering, butterfly-like flight, and habitually perches on posts and the like, uttering a continuous trilling note or song; the four buff or greyish-green eggs with their brown spotting are deposited on a little herbage among sedge or grass. _T. subarquata_, the Curlew-Sandpiper, is grey, black, and rufous, with chestnut under surface and black bars on the white rump, both these parts becoming white in winter; the bill is long and decurved. As far as is yet known, the breeding-quarters lie in the far north of Asia, eggs having recently (1897) been taken near the mouth of the Yenesei: but the bird occurs in Arctic Europe in spring and autumn, and visits our shores irregularly in company with other small waders in autumn, wandering occasionally to Eastern America and Alaska, and migrating to Cape Colony, India, and Tasmania. _T. fuscicollis_, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, with white upper tail-coverts, but dusky rump and short bill, inhabits Arctic America, reaching the whole of South America in winter, and even straying to Britain. It has also occurred in Franz Josef Land in summer. It somewhat resembles the Dunlin in appearance, and the Purple Sandpiper in habits. The closely allied _T. bairdi_ of nearly all America, which breeds towards the North, is distinguished by the median tail-coverts being brownish; it has once been observed in South Africa. Another dark-rumped species is _T. maculata_, the Pectoral Sandpiper, blackish-brown and rufous above, and buff with dusky streaks beneath, the belly being white. It has occurred several times in Britain, but inhabits the "Barren Grounds" from Alaska to Hudson's Bay, and migrates as far as Patagonia. Four greenish-buff eggs with brown blotches are deposited in dry grassy spots. {281}The male is especially remarkable for his habit, apparently unique in the Family, of inflating the oesophagus during his courting performances, until it hangs down like a bag; meanwhile he takes short flights or rises with stiffened wings in the air, uttering a muffled booming note.[188] The Old World form, _T. acuminata_, extends from East Siberia to Alaska, migrating to the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand; it differs in its white chin and distinctly streaked flanks. _T. maritima_ or _striata_, the Purple Sandpiper, is brownish-grey above, with rufous spotting on the blacker mantle, and some white on the wing; the throat and breast are greyish with dusky streaks, the abdomen is white. In winter, when the upper parts are purplish-black and the breast is unspotted, it occurs from Scandinavia and temperate America to the Mediterranean and the Bermudas, arriving in Britain later than its congeners, and frequenting spray-washed, seaweed-covered rocks in search of small molluscs. It is usually tame, can swim well, and utters a soft low note. The eggs, often of a very green ground-colour, are deposited in mossy or grassy places on hill-tops, from the Färoes northwards, though in the more Arctic regions of Europe and Eastern America the bird breeds at the sea-level. It nests in Franz Josef Land, but is rare in Asia. The Prybilof Island form has been called _T. ptilocnemis_, the Alaskan _T. couesi_. _T. canutus_, the Knot, possibly, but not probably, named after Canute, has in summer a reddish head and neck, black, cinnamon, and white upper parts, chestnut under surface, and white tail-coverts barred with black. The plumage varies greatly according to age and season, but the winter adult is grey above and white with dusky flecks below. While no absolutely identified eggs exist, this species undoubtedly breeds on the North Georgian or Parry Islands, Melville Peninsula, Grinnell Land, Smith's Sound, and Lady Franklin Bay, but apparently not in Arctic Europe, though possibly in Asia. Large flocks migrate to our shores, and some individuals reach Brazil, Damara-Land, the Indian Region, Australia, and New Zealand; they are tame on arrival and used to be netted for the table in England. In Arctic America _Saxifraga oppositifolia_ and _Algae_ vary the diet of insects and molluscs, but other Sandpipers are known to eat plants. {282}The East Siberian _T. crassirostris_, with no chestnut beneath, migrates to Japan, the Indian Region, and Australia.

_Ereunetes pusillus_, called the Semipalmated Sandpiper from its partly webbed toes, resembles the western form of the Little Stint in coloration; it breeds in the extreme north of America, and has reached Patagonia in winter. _Eurynorhynchus pygmaeus_, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, on the other hand, is coloured like the eastern red-throated Little Stint, but is especially remarkable for its large, broad, shovel-shaped bill. The breeding grounds are not known, but it has been obtained on both sides of the North Pacific, and on migration in Japan, China, India, and Burma. _Calidris arenaria_, the Sanderling, easily recognisable by the want of a hind-toe, is rufous and black above, and white below, having a chestnut throat spotted with black. It reaches us in August, while some individuals remain throughout the winter, being at that season uniform grey with white under surface. The eggs, which have a peculiar greenish tint, and are like those of the Curlew in miniature, have been taken in Greenland and Arctic America, but, except perhaps in Iceland, never yet in Northern Europe or Asia. Sanderlings are almost as cosmopolitan as Turnstones, and on migration are commonly observed running at the edge of the surf, uttering a weak, shrill cry. _Limicola platyrhyncha_, the Broad-billed Sandpiper, has a wide flat beak with the pointed tip slightly decurved; the upper plumage is mottled with dark brown, rufous, and white; the breast is reddish-white, spotted with brown; the abdomen white. It occasionally visits Britain, and breeds on the fells of Norway, the fens of Lapland, and thence eastwards to Russia, but is rarely met with in Asia until the Sea of Okhotsk is reached; in winter, when it becomes grey above and white below, it resorts to North Africa, Madagascar, Ceylon, the Philippines, the Moluccas, and China. It soars like a Snipe, utters a rapid, double note, and is somewhat skulking. The parent sits very closely on the eggs, in which the greenish or buff ground-colour is commonly nearly hidden by chocolate or rufous markings. _Tryngites rufescens_, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, which has wandered to Britain and Heligoland, breeds in the extreme north of America, and just reaches East Siberia; in winter it ranges to Peru and Argentina. Light brown and black above, and reddish-buff with a few black spots below, the distinctive black marblings beneath the quills are well seen as the bird, according to its habit, runs along with one wing raised.

{283}Here may be mentioned _Aechmorhynchus cancellatus_ (_parvirostris_), of Christmas and Paumotu Islands in the Pacific, which is rufous-brown with white under surface mostly barred with brown; and _Prosobonia leucoptera_, Latham's White-winged Sandpiper, from Tahiti and Eimeo, with brown head and mantle, chestnut rump and lower parts, white wing-patch and superciliary streak–species of doubtful affinity, which are both presumably extinct.

The large genus _Totanus_ is more inland in its haunts during the breeding season than _Tringa_. _T. calidris_, the Redshank, is resident in Britain, and ranges through Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia south of lat. 60° N., migrating to South Africa, the Indian Region, and Japan. The upper parts are light brown with darker bars and streaks, the primaries being black; the rump, secondaries, tail, and lower surface are white, but the two latter are barred with blackish and flecked with brown respectively; the feet are orange-red, or yellowish in the young. In winter the colour is ashy-grey, with nearly white under parts. This bird breeds in salt marshes or swamps, not uncommonly far inland, and deposits four buff eggs with reddish or purplish-brown spots in grass or rush-tufts, making little or no nest, but drawing the herbage together over the spot to conceal it. Both parents usually rise a long way ahead of the intruder, and fly wildly round, uttering their shrill whistling cry of "pitotoi." Redshanks are especially wary on the coast in winter, and, like Curlews or Lapwings, are the bane of the shooter; they can swim and dive, and not uncommonly perch on trees; the food, procured on sandy spots or sea-weed-covered rocks, consists of molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and aquatic insects. _T. fuscus_, the Dusky or Spotted Redshank, a scarce visitor to our shores, breeds in Europe and Asia, chiefly north of the Arctic Circle, and has a similar winter range to its congener. It generally nests in forest-clearings some way from water, and lays fine greenish eggs, blotched with varied browns. The female sits very closely. Less noisy than its kindred, unless accompanied by young, it flies comparatively strongly, perches on trees, and recalls the Greenshank by its habits. The plumage is black, with white spots above, white rump and barred tail; in winter it resembles that of the Redshank, and the crimson legs become orange-red. _T. flavipes_, the Yellowshank, which has wandered to England, inhabits the colder parts of North America, and migrates as far as Patagonia; it is black, grey-brown, and white above, and white with dusky {284}markings below, the legs being bright yellow. _T. melanoleucus_, of the same districts, is similar, but larger. _T. guttifer_ is a rare North Pacific species, recorded in winter from Calcutta and Burma. It is not unlike _T. glottis_, the Greenshank, which ranges over Northern Europe and Asia, and extends in winter to Cape Colony, the Indian Region, and Australia. This bird has wandered to America, and breeds in the hill-districts of Scotland, resembling the Dusky Redshank in its selection of dry nesting sites, habit of perching, and so forth. It is, however, much more noisy, uttering a strident note, or one dimly recalling a Woodpecker, while it lays large, buffish-white eggs with rich brown blotches. It sometimes eats small fish, as does its congener _T. incanus_. The plumage is grey and black above in summer and grey in winter, with white rump and tail, the latter being barred with dusky; the white breast is spotted with brown in the breeding season; the slightly up-turned beak is blackish; the legs are olive. _T. stagnatilis_, the Marsh Sandpiper, a miniature Greenshank of somewhat similar winter range, occupies South Europe and Central Asia. _T. glareola_, the Wood Sandpiper, is olive-brown above, with small whitish spots and white rump; the white cheeks, fore-neck, and breast are heavily streaked with brown; the tail-feathers and axillaries are also white with black bars and brown flecks respectively, the feet are olive. The nest has once at least been found in Britain, whence the bird ranges over North Europe and Asia; it has apparently bred in Spain and Italy, and migrates to Cape Colony, the Indian Region, and Australia. In this species and the following the note is shrill and often tremulous, while the former occasionally, and the latter habitually, lays its greenish eggs with reddish-brown spots in deserted nests of other birds near inland waters, instead of on the ground. _T. ochropus_, the Green Sandpiper, which is less spotted above, has much wider black tail-bars, and blackish axillaries with white chevrons. It has been suspected of breeding in Britain, and occupies a similar though somewhat more northern range than the last-named, but does not reach Australia. _T. solitarius_, with almost uniform brown median rectrices, inhabits temperate, and migrates to tropical, South America; it has been shot in the littoral marshes of western England. _T._ (_Symphemia_) _semipalmatus_, largest of the genus, the Willet of temperate North America, which extends to Brazil in winter and wanders to Europe, is brownish-grey with black mottlings, the outspread {285}wing shewing a white patch, and the white under parts brownish streaks. In the cold season all the dark markings vanish. _T._ (_Heteractitis_) _incanus_, having uniform grey upper, and white under surface, closely barred in summer with dusky, is found through the Eastern Pacific Islands, and on the mainland from Alaska to the Galápagos. _T. brevipes_, with white-banded upper tail-coverts, occurs from Kamtschatka and East Siberia to the Malay Islands and Australia. Both breed to the northward.

_Machetes pugnax_, the Ruff–with its consort the Reeve–was formerly well-known in England from the large numbers netted or snared for the table. Our nesting birds are now reduced to a few pairs, but considerable numbers visit us on passage, while they breed through northern Europe and Asia, and migrate to South Africa, the Indian region, and Japan, wandering rarely to Iceland and Eastern America. The Ruff's nuptial plumage, which varies extraordinarily and individually, may be chiefly black, white, chestnut, buff, grey and white, and so forth, often with metallic hues or concentric barring. A tuft of stiff curled plumes springs from near each ear, the feathers of the face are replaced by yellowish or pinkish tubercles, and an ample distensible ruff overhangs the breast. Males regain the same colours annually, but after breeding become like the females, which are dark brown and buff, and one-third smaller. The polygamous tendencies and habit of "hilling," _i.e._ sparring on some slight eminence for the Reeves, have been frequently described;[189] the note, though seldom heard, is said to resemble ka-ka-kuk; the food includes seeds, insects, and worms; the nest, placed among herbage in the drier parts of a swamp, contains four greenish, snipe-like eggs, with rich brown blotches. The Ruff performs many antics while courting, but leaves all the work of building, incubation, and the care of the young to his mate.

_Bartramia longicauda_, which accidentally visits Britain, Continental Europe, and even Australia, inhabits North America, and migrates southward to Chili and Argentina. It is light brown above, varied with black, buff, and white, the long wedge-shaped tail and the under surface of the wing are barred, the rufous lower parts spotted, with black. The throat and belly are white. In winter it is a shy bird, crouching, running with jerks of the tail, or taking short flights; it utters a soft whistle, and lays pinkish-yellow {286}eggs with brown spots in a slight nest on cultivated lands.

_Actitis hypoleucus_, the Common Sandpiper, breeds in many parts of Britain, and ranges from the Arctic Circle in Europe and Asia to the Atlantic Islands, the Mediterranean, the Himalayas, and Japan; it leaves us before winter, however, and migrates to most of the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions. The coloration is greenish-brown above, with dusky markings, and some white on the wings and tail; the breast is grey with dark streaks, the belly white. In winter the upper parts are more uniform. Rapid pebbly streams with islands, or flat stretches of sand are the birds' favourite resorts, where their shrill whistle and somewhat Wagtail-like habits make them very conspicuous; they fly, run, perch, or swim with equal ease. The nest, usually partly sheltered by rough vegetation or drifted rubbish, contains four reddish-buff eggs with brown and lilac spotting. _A. macularius_, the Spotted Sandpiper of North America generally, found in winter southwards to Amazonia and Brazil, is smaller, with round black spots beneath in summer; it lacks the nearly white eighth and ninth secondaries of its congener.

_Terekia cinerea_, with the up-curved beak of a Greenshank, but the habits and eggs of the last genus, breeds from Archangel eastward to the Pacific, leaving these haunts for the Indian Region to winter, when it is also found in South Africa and Australia. It is grey and black above, with white on the secondaries, and black scapulars, and white below streaked with dusky.

_Micropalama himantopus_, the long-legged Stilt-Sandpiper, inhabits the extreme North-East of America, migrating to Peru and Argentina. It has black, rufous, and greyish-white upper parts, white tail-coverts, and under parts with blackish bars; in winter the back is grey, while the bars nearly disappear beneath. The habits, nest, and eggs are much as in other Sandpipers.

The Godwits (_Limosa_) have long legs and bills, the latter being slightly up-curved. _L. belgica_, the Black-tailed Godwit, nested regularly, up to about 1824, in the eastern counties of England, and, like the Ruff, was netted for eating. It now breeds from Iceland, the Färoes, and Holland to Siberia and Amurland, the smaller eastern form being sometimes denominated _L. melanuroïdes_; the winter range reaches to the Atlantic Islands, Abyssinia, Ceylon, the Malay Islands, Japan, Australia, and Polynesia.

{287}The breeding plumage is reddish-brown and black above, with rufous crown, neck, and breast, marked with dusky; the rump and terminal portion of the tail are black, the basal portion, tail-coverts, alar bar, and belly white: in winter the upper parts are brownish, the lower grey. The American representative, _L. hudsonica_, occupies the barren grounds of the north, and migrates to Patagonia and the Falkland Islands; it has black instead of nearly white axillaries. Though rarer in Britain than the succeeding species during the passage in autumn and spring, small flocks of fairly tame Black-tailed Godwits then frequent our muddy shores and sands–especially in the south; the summer note, or yelp, is louder than the winter cry. Four elongated pear-shaped eggs, of a dull olive shade with brown markings, are deposited in a slightly lined hollow in some grassy marsh. The males of Godwits constantly incubate. _L. lapponica_, the shorter-legged Bar-tailed Godwit, inhabits the countries from Finmark eastward to about the Taimyr Peninsula, where it meets the race _L. uropygialis_, which extends to Alaska. The western form migrates to the Gambia, Somaliland and North India, the eastern through Japan and China to the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania, rarely occurring in south-western North America. In summer the mantle is rufous-brown and black, the head and under parts are chestnut, with dark markings from the crown to the sides, the rump is white with a few dusky streaks, the tail and axillaries are white barred with brown: in winter the upper surface is chiefly grey, and the lower white. _L. uropygialis_ has the rump also barred. The nest of the Bar-tailed Godwit is usually in comparatively dry spots, or even on forest-clearings, the eggs being brighter green and more finely marked than those of the Black-tailed species. _L. fedoa_, the Marbled Godwit of northern North America, which winters southwards to Central America and the West Indies, is distinguished by its large size and buff axillaries.

The almost cosmopolitan genus _Numenius_ is remarkable for its prolonged decurved bill, and its elongated legs. _N. arquata_, the Curlew or Whaup, breeds freely on the moorlands of Britain, and extends throughout Northern Europe and Asia to Lake Baikal; after breeding it visits the Atlantic Islands, the whole of Africa, and the Indian Region.

{288}[Illustration: FIG. 59.–Curlew. _Numenius arquata._ × ⅕.]

The plumage is pale brown with darker streaks, the rump, tail, and axillaries being white, and the two latter barred with dark brown; the belly is white, the breast nearly so in winter. Found on our shores from autumn to spring, its wary habits are as well-known as its wild rippling note; the food consists of insects, worms, berries, and so forth; while four large pear-shaped olive-and-brown eggs are deposited in an ample depression formed on boggy or heathery ground. _N. cyanopus_, a distinct East Siberian form, met with in Australia and occasionally from New Guinea to Borneo in winter, has the rump-region brown and black. _N. tenuirostris_, of the Mediterranean and South Russia, resembles the Curlew, but is much smaller; _N. longirostris_ of temperate North America, migrating to Central America and the Antilles, has cinnamon axillaries–like all the New World members of the genus–and a dark rump. The remaining species, or Whimbrels, have a pale central streak down the crown, less distinct in _N. borealis_, the Eskimo Curlew, which has rufous axillaries barred with brown, and a rump like the back. This bird wanders to Britain, but breeds in the extreme north of America, and in winter reaches the south of that Continent. _N. phaeopus_, the typical {289}Whimbrel or May-bird, nests in the Shetlands and perhaps still in the Orkneys and North Ronay in the Hebrides; in summer it takes the place of the Curlew in the Färoes and Iceland, strays to Greenland, and occupies Northern Europe and Asia; while it visits the Azores, the whole of Africa, the Indian Region, and Australia in winter. Specimens from Eastern Asia, with more streaked rumps, have been separated as _N. variegatus_. In general plumage and habits the Whimbrel resembles the Curlew; it is, however, much smaller, the cry consists of sharper and more quickly repeated notes, and the parents, though anxious, are less shy at the nest. They often descend in a gyrating fashion, closing one wing. _N. hudsonicus_, of Arctic North America, which winters throughout South America, and has once occurred in Spain, resembles _N. borealis_ in its cinnamon axillaries, but is larger and less ruddy beneath. _N. tahitiensis_, common in the Pacific Islands, and probably breeding in Alaska, is recognisable by the bristly-pointed flank-feathers; _N. minutus_, ranging from East Siberia in summer to the Malay Islands and Australia in winter, has the back of the metatarsus as well as the front scutellated.

Sub-fam. 3. _Scolopacinae._–_Macrorhamphus griseus_, the Dowitcher, breeding in the extreme north of North America, and its larger and brighter western race, _M. scolopaceus_, are rufous birds with darker variegations, the lower back and tail being white, but the latter and its upper coverts shewing blackish barring. The bill is widened towards the tip, while in winter the plumage is grey and white. One form or the other has strayed to Britain, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia, the range on migration reaching Brazil and Chili. The habits resemble those of Redshanks. _M. taczanowskii_, with black-mottled rump, occupies East Siberia, and winters in India, Borneo, and thence to China.

_Scolopax rusticula_, the well-known Woodcock, brown, grey, and buff in colour, with blackish vermiculations and blotches above and bars below, has two transverse buff stripes on the black hind-crown. It inhabits Northern and Central Europe and Asia–with the Atlantic Islands and Japan–and migrates to the Mediterranean, Persia, India, Ceylon, and China, or even strays to eastern North America. Breeding freely in Britain, where large additional flocks arrive in autumn, it frequents leaf-strewn woods in which marshy spots or rivulets alternate with dry ground; the food consists of worms, small molluscs and insects, the first being {290}obtained by probing the soil with the long sensitive beak. The flight is rapid and steady, the note–not uttered when flushed–is whistling; while during incubation a curious habit prevails among the cocks of "roading" or traversing fixed routes at twilight, and uttering hoarse notes. The nest is a depression, usually lined with dry leaves; the four eggs, much larger and rounder than those of the Snipe, are creamy-buff with pale brown, grey, and lilac markings. The young are often carried by the parents between their thighs, the bill probably aiding to steady them. Woodcocks are now seldom snared or netted in England. _S. saturata_ of Java and North-West New Guinea is a darker bird with almost uniform black primaries, and a white abdomen with dusky bars. _S. rochusseni_ of the Moluccas has partly bare tibiae, like many Snipe, and a nearly plain buff breast. The Woodcock of eastern North America is _Philohela minor_, which has the three outer primaries curiously attenuated.

[Illustration: FIG. 60.–Woodcock. _Scolopax rusticula._ × 2/7.]

The genus _Gallinago_ differs from the above in having longitudinal stripes on the head. _G. caelestis_, the Common or Full Snipe,[190] breeds in Northern and Central Europe and Asia, and even in North Italy; it is recorded from Greenland and the Bermudas, and migrates to the Atlantic Islands, the Gambia, the Upper Nile, and the Indian Region. Its brown, black, and buff plumage, with three buff streaks on the head, is well-known, while there are normally fourteen rectrices. _G. sabinii_ is merely a dark form. As regards its autumnal influx and food the Snipe resembles the Woodcock, but the cry of "scape-scape" and twisting {291}flight on rising, remain to be mentioned, while the alternate zig-zag rise and fall of the bird when circling in the air near its nest, with the curious drumming or bleating noise produced at each descent must not be omitted. The method of production of this sound is still uncertain, but is either due to the vibration of the wings, or more probably to that of the webs of the outer rectrices. The slight nest is formed in a tuft of herbage in some marshy place, the four pointed eggs being olive, with spots and oblique blotches of brown. Snipe occasionally perch on trees or squat upon the ground until touched. The very similar _G. delicata_ (_wilsoni_), breeding northwards from the northern United States, and migrating to northern South America, has usually sixteen rectrices, as have the six following species. _G. major_, the Double or Solitary Snipe, nests as far south in Europe as Holland and Poland, and reaches the Yenesei; it is known from the Tian-Shan Mountains, Turkestan, and Persia, and winters even in Natal and Damara-Land, visiting Britain annually on passage. It rises silently and heavily when flushed, is to some extent nocturnal, and drums when on the ground. The three outer tail-feathers are chiefly white.[191] _G. frenata_, ranging from Argentina and Tarapacá to Venezuela and Guiana; _G. nobilis_ of Colombia and Ecuador, _G. paraguaiae_, reaching from Amazonia and Bolivia to the Falklands, _G. macrodactyla_ (_bernieri_) of Madagascar, and _G. aequatorialis_ (_nigripennis_), of the Ethiopian Region generally, conclude this section of the genus. _G. australis_ is similar to our Snipe, but larger; it breeds in Japan, and migrates through Formosa to Australia; _G. nemoricola_, the Wood-Snipe of the hills of India and Burma, has the lower parts distinctly barred; _G. solitaria_, breeding at considerable elevations from Turkestan to Assam and Japan, and wintering in those countries and China, exhibits distinct white streaks above. In the three last-named species the rectrices number about eighteen, in the next six they may be as few as fourteen. South America furnishes five forms somewhat like Woodcocks in their habits and eggs, namely, _G. gigantea_ of Brazil and Paraguay, the largest of the Snipes; _G. undulata_ of Guiana; _G. jamesoni_, ranging from Colombia to Bolivia; _G. imperialis_ of the former country; and _G. stricklandi_ of Chili and Patagonia. All these recall the Common Snipe by their coloration, as does the small short-winged _G. aucklandica_, which, with its different races, {292}occupies the Auckland, Snares, Chatham, and Antipodes Islands, and has visited New Zealand. _G. stenura_, the Pin-tailed Snipe, with twenty-six rectrices, the eight outer of which on each side are stiff and attenuated, breeds from the Yenesei to the Pacific, and winters in the Indian Region; _G. megala_, with twelve of its twenty tail-feathers narrowed, inhabits East Siberia and passes through Japan to China, the Philippines, Borneo, and the Moluccas in winter. _G._ (_Limnocryptes_) _gallinula_, the Jack Snipe, found in Britain from autumn to spring, breeds from Scandinavia to Siberia, and migrates to North Africa, the Indian Region, and Japan. The upper parts show a greenish and purple gloss, while it has only twelve rectrices. Like _G. major_, it frequents drier spots than the Common Snipe, and rises without a sound in the shooting season, the flight being butterfly-like; the habits in summer are similar to those of the last-named species, and the eggs even larger for its size.

Of the so-called Painted Snipes the female of _Rhynchaea_ or _Rostratula capensis_ has a brown head with chestnut cheeks and collar, a brownish-green back with blackish freckling, scattered golden-buff ocelli and streaks on the upper parts, a black fore-neck, a white under surface and ring round the eye. The male is duller, without the chestnut tints. This species inhabits the whole Ethiopian and most of the Indian Region, as well as Egypt, Arabia, and Japan; the larger _R. australis_, with only a chestnut patch on the nape, occupies Australia. _R. semicollaris_ of Chili and Patagonia, which visits Peru and Brazil, shews no chestnut collar, but has black upper wing-coverts with round white spots; the sexes being alike. In mature females of the Old World forms the trachea extends in a loop or loops over the furcula, or even over the pectoral muscles.[192] The habits of these birds are Snipe-like, but the flight is slower, and the hen's note purring; the whitish eggs with plentiful black spots are somewhat Plover-like, while _R. semicollaris_ apparently lays only two. The Indian species is said to hiss at intruders, with its wings and tail expanded into a disc.

The short-winged _Phegornis mitchelli_, which lacks a hallux, is brown above, and white with very close dusky bars below; the head is black, save for a white band which surrounds the occiput; while a neck-collar is formed by a fine orange patch behind and a white area in front. It inhabits the Andes from Peru to Chili.

Fam. II. CHIONIDIDAE.–This group–with _Dromas_–possibly {293}connects the Charadriidae and the Laridae. The peculiar bill and short, entirely reticulated metatarsus have already been mentioned (pp. 268-269), while both sexes are pure white, the downy young being grey. _Chionis alba_, the "Kelp Pigeon" of the Falklands, which inhabits the Straits of Magellan, New Year Island, South Georgia and Louis-Philippe Land, and has once been shot in Ireland, has the bill pinkish or yellowish with a black tip and flat sheath; the bare face is covered with whitish papillae, and the feet are bluish. _C. minor_, of Kerguelen Land, Prince Edward and Marion Islands, and the Crozets, has the sheath protuberant, the bill and facial caruncle black, and the feet pinkish. There is said to be a blunt black carpal spur, less prominent in the female. Both species are often found at sea, flying strongly, or sailing with outspread wings; but on land their appearance, gait, and manner of courting are curiously like those of Pigeons. The note is a gentle chuckle; the food consists of mussels–which they break with ease–crustaceans, sea-weed, and even eggs of other birds; their own eggs, two or rarely three in number, are of the Oyster-catcher type, but commonly redder in the markings, so that they recall those of the Razor-bill or Tropic-bird. When the flocks separate into pairs for breeding, they are tame and inquisitive, while they fashion a nest of dried plant-stems in hollows among rocks, or occasionally in Petrels' burrows.

Fam. III. GLAREOLIDAE.–Of these Old World forms Sub-fam. 1, _Glareolinae_, includes the genera _Glareola_, _Cursorius_, _Pluvianus_, and perhaps _Ortyxelus_, the first two having the middle claw pectinated, and _Glareola_ a short, stout bill with wide gape, a forked tail, and long pointed wings. _G. pratincola_, the Pratincole, which occasionally visits Britain by way of Western France, breeds in Southern Europe and North Africa, and extends to Sind and the Tian-Shan Mountains in Asia, migrating to other parts of India and to South Africa. It is brown above, with blacker wings and tail, the secondaries having white tips, and the rectrices white bases and coverts; the throat is buff, surrounded by a black line, the breast brownish, the abdomen white; the axillaries and inner under wing-coverts are chestnut, the bill and feet blackish, with red base to the former. _G. orientalis_, found from Mongolia to Ceylon, the Malay Archipelago, and North Australia, has the tail less forked and little white on the secondaries; _G. ocularis_, of Madagascar, recorded from Mauritius and East Africa, has a pale chestnut {294}breast, and the outer pair of rectrices white with broad black ends; _G. melanoptera_ (_nordmanni_) of South-East Europe and West Asia, migrating to South Africa, has black axillaries and under wing-coverts, as have the long-legged _G. grallaria_ (_isabella_) with slightly forked tail and chestnut flanks, which breeds in Eastern Australia and occurs from New Guinea to Borneo, and the small grey-backed _G. lactea_ of India, Ceylon, and Burma, with much white on the wings. The other species have reddish feet, fading to yellow; _G. cinerea_, ranging from the Niger to the Congo, possesses a rufous nuchal collar and white axillaries; _G. nuchalis_ of the White Nile, and the hardly separable _G. emini_ of Foda in Equatorial Africa, have a white collar and grey axillaries; _G. megapoda_, extending from Liberia to the Niger, shews a rufous collar and grey axillaries. The last five forms, and _G. ocularis_, have the tail merely emarginated. Pratincoles have a shrill, screaming note and Swallow-like flight, insects, on which they feed, being ordinarily captured on the wing; but the general habits are those of Plovers, the birds running very fast, and the parents often swooping down upon an intruder, or cowering on the ground to draw attention from their brood. They frequent sand-banks, lagoons, bare plains, or coast-lands, laying two, three, or rarely four oval greenish-buff or greyish eggs, with purplish-black, brown, and grey marblings, without any nest, on the sun-baked mud.

The genus _Cursorius_, or Courser, inhabits the hotter portions of the Old World. _C. gallicus_, the Cream-coloured Courser, which visits Britain and the southern half of Europe irregularly, is met with in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands, North Africa, and the countries from Arabia to Northern India. The brown bill is thick and decurved, the whitish legs are long; the plumage is buff, with slaty nape, black remiges, axillaries, under wing-coverts, and subterminal tail-bar; the face is white with a black post-ocular streak. Seldom found in flocks, this bird frequents dry sandy plains and deserts, crouching to avoid notice, running with extraordinary speed if approached, but rarely rising on the wing. The flight, however, is at times protracted. The food consists almost entirely of insects, such as grasshoppers, yet it includes small molluscs; the note is harsh; while two, or exceptionally three, round stone-coloured eggs with grey and brown markings are deposited on the bare ground. The axillaries and under wing-coverts are greyish-buff in _C. somalensis_, of Somaliland, but brownish-grey in _C. {295}rufus_, of South Africa, which has a black abdominal patch. _C. temmincki_ (_senegalensis_), of most of the Ethiopian Region, and _C. coromandelicus_, of India and Ceylon, are similar, but have the nape black and white, the latter possessing white tail-coverts.

In the remaining species (_Rhinoptilus_ of some authors) the bill is almost straight. _C. bicinctus_ of South Africa is mottled with brown above, having much chestnut on the wings, white tail-coverts, and buff under parts crossed by two black pectoral bars. _C. bisignatus_, ranging from East Africa to Benguela, and _C. hartingi_ of Somali-Land, are hardly more than races of the above. _C. cinctus_ of East Equatorial Africa, and the barely separable _C. seebohmi_ of South-West Africa, are easily recognised by the four bands on the white lower surface, the highest and lowest being brown, and the two intermediate black, with a streaky buff space between them. _C. chalcopterus_, of the Ethiopian Region generally, and _C. albifasciatus_ with a more distinct white alar bar, are plain brown birds with metallic purple hues on the black primaries, white post-ocular streak and throat, and white belly surmounted by a black band. _C. bitorquatus_, of the districts near Madras, differs in shewing below three successive bands or gorgets, one of rufous and two of brown, separated by white. Though all Coursers agree in general habits, the last three seem to prefer bushy ground, and _C. rufus_ will perch in trees.

_Pluvianus aegyptius_, apparently allied to _Cursorius_, inhabits West and North-East Africa, wandering to Palestine and South Europe, and being even recorded from Sweden. The head, nape, and long mantle-feathers overhanging the grey back are glossy black; the wings and tail are black and white varied with grey, the lower parts rufous-white with a black pectoral band, while a line of white encircles the crown. This bird, called "Zic-zac" from its noisy chattering cry (cf. p. 276), is usually seen skimming swiftly over the water, or running and feeding along the shores. The yellowish stone-coloured eggs, with umber and grey markings, are commonly found buried in the sand, but so are those of the Ringed Plover in wind-swept spots. Probably this species, and not _Hoplopterus spinosus_, is the τροχίλος of Herodotus, the Crocodile-bird of later writers, which enters the Crocodile's mouth to feed.

Here may possibly be placed the mottled rufous, black, and white _Ortyxelus meiffreni_ of West and North-East Africa.[193]

{296}Sub-fam. 2. _Dromadinae._–This contains only _Dromas ardeola_, the curious Crab-Plover, with its straight, hard compressed bill, long legs, webbed toes, and pectinated middle claw. It is white, with the elongated dorsal feathers and most of the wings black, the tail chiefly grey. Found from the Red Sea to Natal, and through the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, it haunts sandy islands or sandbanks on the coast, flying, running, or walking with equal ease. This bird feeds on small crustaceans, and breeds in company, depositing a single large white egg on the bare sand in a deep burrow, where the young remain for a considerable time.

Fam. IV. THINOCORYTHIDAE.–The so-called South American Seed-Snipes are a generalized group of somewhat Fowl-like birds, with long wings and short legs. _Thinocorys rumicivorus_, of Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia, is yellowish-brown and black above, with whitish tips to the dark remiges and rectrices, and creamy white below with a black pectoral band, which sends a streak upwards to bifurcate round the white throat. The female has a less extensive band, and an ashy-brown fore-neck. _T. orbignianus_, of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, differs in its grey breast with no central streak; it has a black border to the throat, and a grey nape, which is absent in the female. _Attagis gayi_, of the same countries, has grey and rufous upper parts with black spots and vermiculations, and pale cinnamon under parts, with a greyish fore-neck shewing fine black lines. _A. chimborazensis_ of Ecuador is blacker above and darker below; _A. malouina_, of the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands, has a white lower surface and a rufous chest with round black spots. These forms usually frequent hill-country, and to the north of their range even haunt the higher Andes, living on vegetable substances, and especially seeds of docks and other plants. They run with great celerity over the stony ravines or grassy plains, but they often squat or creep away from intruders; when flushed they rise sharply with twisting flight like the Snipe, and utter a similar cry. On the ground they make curious hollow or whistling noises, the flocks answering one another as they sit, and being very hard to distinguish, from their earthy coloration. The nest of _Thinocorys_ is a depression slightly lined with grass, and contains some four drab or pinkish-buff pear-shaped eggs, thickly speckled with chocolate and purplish-grey, which the female is said to cover when she leaves them, while the male anxiously keeps watch from some neighbouring stone.

{297}Fam. V. OEDICNEMIDAE.–Of these birds, which lack the hind toe, _Oedicnemus scolopax_, the Stone-Curlew, or Norfolk Plover, a summer visitor to the warrens of East Anglia, and the downs or stony flats of the South of England, ranges from our shores and the Atlantic Islands through temperate Europe and North Africa to Lake Saisan and Burma in Asia. This largest of European Plovers is light brown above and buff below, with blackish streaks throughout; the throat, belly, a line below the eye, and two narrow alar bars are white, the remiges otherwise black, the tail brown, black, and white. The feet, base of the bill, and very large iris are yellow. This skulking semi-nocturnal species flies strongly, though it prefers to squat or run, and takes to the wing reluctantly; towards winter it is gregarious, as are so many of the Charadriiformes. The mournful whistling cry, more mellow than that of the Golden Plover, is chiefly heard at twilight, when the bird feeds upon worms, insects, molluscs, or even reptiles, frogs, and mice. Two oval stone-coloured eggs, blotched or scrawled with black, are laid on bare ground or among stones, and in India sometimes under bushes; while the newly-hatched young are decidedly torpid, contrary to Limicoline custom. Other species with streaked breasts are _Oe. senegalensis_, of West and North-East Africa, with only one white wing-bar; _Oe. vermiculatus_, of East and South Africa, with vermiculated upper parts; _Oe. capensis_, of much the same districts, with coarse blotches and bars above; and the large _Oe. grallarius_ of Australia with a broad brown stripe down each side of the neck. _Oe. affinis_ of North-East Africa is barely distinct from _Oe. capensis_. The forms with almost uniform breasts, and a black patch or line over the eye, are _Oe. bistriatus_,[194] ranging from Mexico to North Brazil, with mottled, and _Oe. superciliaris_ of Peru with vermiculated, back; as well as two fine birds separated as _Aesacus_. _Ae. recurvirostris_, of India, Ceylon, and Burma, has a stout, slightly recurved bill and nearly plain upper surface; _Ae. magnirostris_, extending from the Andaman Islands to the Philippines, Australia, the Solomons, and New Caledonia, differs in its straight bill and blackish lores. The former breeds on sand-banks up rivers, the latter on sea-beaches, both feeding upon crustaceans and molluscs. Some of the Family occasionally frequent low hills, and _Oe. bistriatus_ is kept to destroy insects in Nicaragua.

Fam. VI. PARRIDAE.–Of the extraordinary long-toed Jaçanas, {298}_Parra jacana_, ranging from Ecuador and Guiana to Bolivia and Argentina, has a red frontal lappet, bilobed posteriorly, a red wattle at each side of the gape, an orange bill, olive feet, and a well-developed yellow carpal spur. The plumage is chestnut, with greenish-black head, neck, and under parts, maroon sides, and yellow remiges, the wing- and tail-quills being tipped with brownish-black. _P. melanopygia_ of Panama and Colombia is darker and more maroon above; _P. nigra_, of those countries and Venezuela, is entirely greenish-black, except for the wings; _P. gymnostoma_ (_variabilis_), found from South Texas to Costa Rica, with Cuba, Porto Rico, and Haiti, has the frontal lappet trilobed, lacks the rictal wattles, and in colour resembles _P. melanopygia_, though the maroon extends to the belly. The young in this genus are chiefly bronzy-brown above and buffish-white below; and the nestlings–at least in _P. gymnostoma_–are curiously marked with tawny, black, buff, and white. _Metopidius indicus_, occurring from India to Cochin China, and in Sumatra, Java, and Celebes, has a large blue frontal shield, small blunt spurs, and no rictal wattles; the bill is pink, blue, and green; the feet are slaty. The head, neck, remiges, and under parts are greenish-black, varying to purple, the chin and superciliary streak are white, the mantle is bronze, the lower back maroon, and the tail chestnut. The young are much greener above than in the last genus. _M. albinucha_ of Madagascar and _M. africanus_ of most of the Ethiopian Region have a smaller shield, loosely connected behind, which is grey in the former, leaden blue in the latter, as are the bill and feet. The cinnamon-brown plumage is varied in the first-named by a black occiput and throat and white nape, in its congener by a white neck, black nape, and golden upper breast. The tail is chestnut and the primaries black. The very small _Microparra capensis_, of South and South-East Africa, has no shield or wattles, and is greyish-brown, becoming orange on the crown, rump, and tail; the nape and upper mantle are purplish-black, the wings blackish with a white alar bar, the under parts white with golden sides to the neck. The bill and feet are brownish, the spur in this genus and the next being as in _Metopidius_. _Hydralector gallinaceus_, ranging from Borneo and Celebes to New Guinea and Australia–if _H. novae guineae_ be not separated–is chiefly black; the back being greyish-olive, the throat and abdomen white, the cheeks, with the sides and front of the neck, golden. A red lappet with an erect central protuberance covers the forehead; the bill is {299}red, yellow, and black; the legs are red and olive. Young birds are mainly reddish-brown, with white below. _Hydrophasianus chirurgus_, of most of the Indian Region, is bronzy-brown above and purplish-black below, with no fleshy outgrowths, but a large, sharp spur. The head is white with black occiput, the neck golden behind and white in front, with an intervening black lateral stripe; the wings are mainly white, with curious filamentous appendages to the attenuated blackish outer primaries; the four median feathers of the dark brown tail are enormously elongated and decurved. The winter and immature plumage is almost entirely bronzy-brown, with white under surface crossed by a black gorget; but the young have a rufous head.

[Illustration: FIG. 61.–Indian Jaçana. _Hydrophasianus chirurgus._ × ¼.]

All the members of this Family frequent lakes and swamps, whether inland or near the coast, _Hydrophasianus chirurgus_ occurring at considerable elevations; while at least that species, _Parra jacana_, and _Metopidius indicus_, are gregarious in winter. On their favourite lagoons, bordered by a dense fringe of aquatic plants, these active birds may be seen gracefully striding or running upon the floating leaves of water-lilies and like plants, as their long toes easily enable them to do. When danger threatens they crouch or submerge themselves partially, _Hydralector_ being perhaps the best diver, where all are good. Tame when unmolested, they rise reluctantly, scuttling over the water with {300}trailing legs after the fashion of a Moor-hen, or fluttering and gliding in turn to the nearest shelter at a good pace. On the ground the gait is easy. Small parties of _Parra jacana_ are said to gather together when feeding, and to utter quick, excited cries, while going through a singular performance or dance, with outstretched, agitated wings and alternate slow and fluttering movements.[195] Some species are especially quarrelsome; _Microparra_ has a habit of bobbing its head up and down like a Plover; the male of _Parra jacana_ is particularly sedulous in warning the female from the nest; and both parents commonly "sham wounded" to protect their young. The cry is loud and harsh, or mewing in _Hydrophasianus_; the food consists of insects, molluscs, seeds, and roots; the nest is a small cup, or not uncommonly a large mass, of aquatic herbage, placed in grass or rushes, or on floating vegetation. The four beautiful eggs are more or less pear-shaped, and are glossy buff, olive, green, or brown, thickly covered with fantastic scrawls, and occasionally with black or brown blotches. _Metopidius indicus_, however, is said to lay as many as ten, while those of _Hydrophasianus_ are plain brown or green.

A fossil Limicoline form, _Palaeotringa_, occurs in the Cretaceous rocks of New Jersey; France furnishes _Limosa_ and _Tringa_ from the Eocene, _Camascelus_ (allied to the Plovers) from the transition beds, _Milnea_ (near _Oedicnemus_), _Tringa_, _Himantopus_, and _Numenius_ from the Miocene. The same formation in both France and Germany provides _Helornis_ (akin to _Limicola_), and _Totanus_; the Pliocene of Italy the latter; _Gallinago_ is found in the Chatham Islands; _Charadrius_ in North America.

Fam. VII. LARIDAE.–This consists of four Sub-families (1) _Stercorariinae_ or Skuas, (2) _Larinae_ or Gulls, (3) _Rhynchopinae_ or Skimmers, and (4) _Sterninae_ or Terns. Mr. Saunders[196] is, however, probably right in distinguishing a second Family, _Stercorariidae_; and possibly a third, _Rhynchopidae_, might be admitted.

In the _Larinae_ the strong, horny bill is of moderate length, though exceptionally small in _Rhodostethia_, the maxilla being curved, but hardly hooked; in the _Stercorariinae_ there is a distinct hook, and the base is covered by a cere, said to be hard or soft according to the season, and possibly, shed after the manner of certain Auks.[197] In the _Sterninae_ the beak is nearly straight and {301}pointed, while comparatively slender; in the _Rhynchopinae_, the maxilla, which moves vertically with ease, is much shorter than the mandible, and both are compressed anteriorly until they resemble truncated knife blades. The tibia is generally partly bare; the metatarsus is fairly long in the first two Sub-families, and is scutellated in front, being usually smooth behind, though rougher in _Pagophila_; the anterior toes are fully webbed, with claws which vary from weak to moderate, or even to strong and hooked, as in the _Stercorariinae_. The elevated hallux is joined by a membrane to the inner toe in _Leucophaeus_, and is rudimentary or absent in _Rissa_. In the _Sterninae_ and _Rhynchopinae_ the metatarsus is short–especially in the latter, where the web between the inner and middle digits is deeply incised, as are both webs in _Hydrochelidon_ and _Gygis_; the claws are long, slender, and curved. The pointed wings, excessively lengthened in the two last-mentioned Sub-families, have eleven primaries, of which the outer is particularly small, and from fifteen to twenty-three secondaries. The tail may be nearly even as in _Larus_, deeply forked as in _Sterna_ generally, less excised as in _Xema_, _Hydrochelidon_, _Naenia_, and _Rhynchops_, graduated or cuneate as in _Rhodostethia_, _Anous_, and _Gygis_; all the twelve feathers being rounded or acute: in the _Stercorariinae_ the two central rectrices project beyond the others, being decidedly pointed in _Stercorarius crepidatus_ and _S. parasiticus_, but rounded and twisted in the shaft until the webs are vertical in _S. pomatorhinus_. The furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue lanceolate, the nostrils are pervious; an after-shaft is present, while both adults and young have abundant down, that of the latter commonly shewing a mixture of white, with grey, yellowish, slaty, or brown. _Naenia_ has elongated plumes at the gape, and a few Terns have slight nuchal crests.

Gulls and Skuas are widely-ranging and essentially marine birds, even those species which nest inland being commonly observed near salt water, and seeking the coast when incubation is over. They are always inclined to be gregarious, and are more or less resident in Britain, but the undoubted influx of birds from abroad in autumn makes it difficult, or even impossible, to determine their exact status in every case. Their untiring and easy flight is only second to that of the larger Petrels; the majestic style of the Great Black-backed Gull, and other forms, being a great contrast to the wavering but graceful movements of the Kittiwake or {302}Bonaparte's Gull. All walk well, though sedately, swim to perfection, and rise easily both from land and water, usually breaking into a run before taking to the wing from the ground; while they almost invariably alight with uplifted pinions. The wild characteristic note varies less than in most large groups, that of the bigger species being harsh and querulous, that of the smaller laughing or screaming; the lesser Skuas give vent to a curious mewing cry, and the Great Skuas to a similar but deeper sound. At the breeding-quarters the utterances are naturally more agitated and shrill, and the parents hang excitedly above a visitor's head. The food consists mainly of fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and worms, but is varied in the stronger forms by small mammals, young birds, and eggs: the Great Black-backed Gull undoubtedly attacks lambs and weakly ewes; carrion is not uncommonly devoured; and _Larus maculipennis_ acts as a scavenger at Buenos Aires, besides clearing the country of grasshoppers, and robbing the Cayenne Lapwing of its insect booty. Skuas give chase to their smaller kin, and force them to disgorge the fishes they have just caught, while even Solan Geese are sometimes victimized; _Larus scopulinus_, moreover, which robs the Oyster-catcher of New Zealand, is a further instance of parasitic habits. Insects and their larvae, turnips, berries, and grain are also eaten by these omnivorous but useful creatures. Their main sustenance is naturally derived from the ocean, or its oozy shores; but flocks are commonly seen on pastures and arable lands near the beach, or following the plough further from the sea, though not being of the species which breed in the interior, nor driven inland by stress of weather. At times Gulls almost, if not quite, disappear below the water when swooping on their prey, and Kittiwakes have been said to pursue it beneath the surface. A common habit is that of preening and washing the plumage in company at favoured spots, while one that is less well-known is that of casting up the indigestible parts of the food in pellets, as do many other birds. The nesting sites are very frequently precipitous rocks and stony islands, but inland marshes and lakes accommodate many species, while in certain localities trees as high as thirty feet are selected. Skuas breed on moors or hills near the sea in Scotland, on the fells of Scandinavia, and on the tundras and barren grounds of the Arctic Regions, the nest being a mere depression in the herbage or moss; the {303}remainder of the tribe generally collect a mass of grass, moss, flags, sedges, heather, twigs, or sea-weed, though a mere hollow in the soil or sand often serves their purpose. The eggs vary in number from two in the case of the Ivory Gull and the Skuas to three or exceptionally four; they are brown, drab, or green, with blotches and spots of brown, black, grey, and lilac, and recall those of Plovers. Both sexes have been said to incubate in _Larus minutus_ and _Rissa brevirostris_; the young are comparatively helpless for a few hours or perhaps days, and are at first fed by the parents.

Terns resemble Gulls in many of their habits, but are more cosmopolitan, and decidedly migratory in Britain; they are essentially marine, yet some species breed on inland waters in summer. Particularly slender and graceful, these long-winged birds may usually be distinguished by their irregular or hovering flight, and are known as Sea-swallows; while their method of beating up and down maritime streams or shallows, singly or in pairs, in search of fish, is quite peculiar to themselves. At such times they make constant plunges into the water, often completely immersing their bodies, or occasionally discontinue their operations to engage in trivial and seemingly amicable quarrels. The note, though hoarse in some cases, is usually a squealing or grating sound, the latter especially when disturbed; the food consists of fish and crustaceans, insects–said to be sometimes taken on the wing–frogs, newts, locusts, grasshoppers, caterpillars, leeches, molluscs, and medusae. Terns are wary but bold, commonly circling around a wounded companion until several are shot; the Noddies (_Anous_), however, are much more sluggish and silent. On the ground all move with comparative ease. The nest of _Hydrochelidon_ is a mass of water-weeds placed on some tussock in a wet inland swamp; that of _Anous_, when situated on trees, bushes, or rocky ledges, is composed of twigs, sea-weed, and like materials; but most species merely make a hole in the sand or soil, with little or no lining. Depressions on level rocks, the surface of prostrate plants, and heathery, grassy, or muddy flats are often utilized as alternatives, while colonies are usually formed. Two or three olive, reddish-brown, green, or stone-coloured eggs, with blotches, spots, scrawls, or oblique streaks of black, brown, grey, or lilac, are deposited; the Noddy and Sooty Terns, however, have a single white egg with red markings, and _Gygis_ one, which is buff, marbled, spotted, or often scrolled with brown and grey, and is laid on any slight cavity of {304}a branch, a broad leaf-stalk, or a coral reef. The nesting habits of _Naenia_ are unknown, but it frequents rocky, cavernous shores.

_Rhynchops_ has a peculiarly low flight, rapid and gliding, with many a turn and twist, which has gained it the name of Skimmer. The food, often sought towards evening, appears to consist of small fish and crustaceans; it is procured by keeping the bill wide open, with the long mandible ploughing through the water or mud, and leaving a distinct furrow in its track. The cry is a low harsh scream or shrill twittering note. A hollow in some sandy river-bank or island serves to contain the three or four grey, green, buff, or white eggs, with blotches and streaks of purplish-grey and dark brown. The female is said to sit only at night or in stormy weather, and the young to be unable to fly for several weeks,[198] but the remaining habits resemble those of Terns.

The sexes in the Laridae are invariably similar, the plumage being grey and white, or more rarely blackish or brown, details of which will be found below. The young are duller, being mottled with brown or black in immature Gulls. The frequent black or brown heads, often lacking at certain ages or times of year, the seasonal changes generally, the neck-collar of _Xema sabinii_ and _Rhodostethia_, and the rosy tint on the breast in the latter species, _Larus franklini_, and _Sterna dougalli_ may be noticed in passing. The members of the Family range in size from the Glaucous to the Little Gull; the largest Tern being the Caspian, and the smallest, as its name indicates, the Least Tern.

Sub-fam. 1. _Stercorariinae._–Of this widely spread but curiously distributed group, _Megalestris catarrhactes_, the Great Skua or Bonxie, a fine rufous-brown species, with a white wing-patch which is very conspicuous in flight, breeds in Shetland, the Färoes, Iceland, and possibly north of Hudson Strait, occurring in South Greenland and Norway, and reaching New England and Gibraltar in winter. It nests in colonies, though each pair occupies a distinct area, which the parents defend with exceptional boldness, swooping down swiftly with a heavy rush, and dropping the feet when at close quarters, as if to strike an intruder. Unlike their smaller kin, which will attack a man from any side and hit him with their wings, these birds commonly aim directly at the face, and their onslaught, if not averted, is really dangerous, while they only just clear the head when threatened with a stick. The two eggs, deposited in a depression {305}in the herbage, are dull brown or greenish, with somewhat indistinct umber markings. The food consists chiefly of fish, which the smaller Gulls are forced to disgorge, while Kittiwakes and the like are themselves occasionally devoured in default of other prey. _M. chilensis_, spotted with chestnut above, and more rufous below, occupies America south of Rio de Janeiro and Callao; the sooty-brown _M. antarctica_–the stouter-billed Port Egmont or Sea Hen–replacing it from the Falklands to the Australian and New Zealand seas, and reaching northwards to the Comoros and Madagascar. In the Antarctic Victoria Land occurs a paler form, _M. maccormicki_.

_Stercorarius pomatorhinus_, the Pomatorhine Skua, breeds on the tundras of Siberia and possibly from Greenland to Bering Sea, migrating to Britain and as far as South Africa, North Australia, and Peru. The plumage is brown, with blacker head and gorget, white breast, and acuminate white neck-feathers tipped with yellow. The projecting median rectrices with their vertically twisted vanes are mentioned above (p. 301). Uniform brown specimens may be immature. _S. crepidatus_, the Arctic Skua, is smaller, and nests as far south as Northern and Western Scotland, but properly occupies Arctic and sub-Arctic Europe, Asia, and America; in winter, it reaches South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. The elongated rectrices are not twisted, but are pointed, while a uniform dark phase–the true _S. richardsoni_–is common to both sexes. _S. parasiticus_, Buffon's Skua, distinguished from the last-named by its extremely prolonged rectrices and greyer upper surface, breeds on the Scandinavian fells and throughout the Arctic tundras and barren grounds, migrating as far south as Gibraltar and lat. 40° N. in America. The habits of the members of this genus are similar to those of _Megalestris_, but their quicker flight enables them to rob even Terns, and the mewing cry is most peculiar, while the eggs are intermediate in style between those of Whimbrels and Gulls. These small Skuas often destroy Lemmings.

Sub-fam. 2. _Larinae._–_Rissa tridactyla_, the Kittiwake, breeds from the circumpolar regions southwards to the Kuril Islands, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and North-West France; in winter it reaches western North America, the Bermudas, the Canaries, the Mediterranean, and the Caspian. The feet are black, the hind-toe is absent or rudimentary. From _Larus canus_, which it closely resembles when flying, it can be distinguished by the absence of white spots at the ends of the primaries. The young bird, or {306}Tarrock, is much variegated with dark grey or black, and has a blackish tip to the tail, as is the case in most fresh-water Gulls. Many fine colonies inhabit the loftier cliffs of Great Britain, the nests of sea-weed and grass being closely crowded together, and the eggs exhibiting softer colours than is usual in the Sub-family. The darker _R. brevirostris_ of Bering Sea has red feet.

_Pagophila eburnea_, the Ivory Gull, seems truly circumpolar, while it accidentally visits Britain, Northern Europe, and New Brunswick. It is pure white, with black feet, the young shewing grey and black variations. It will eat whale- or seal-offal.

_Leucophaeus scoresbii_, of South Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, and the neighbouring Antarctic seas, has a crimson bill, coarse red feet, with somewhat excised webs, a dark hood in immature examples, and a white tail. _Gabianus pacificus_ of Australia and Tasmania is somewhat like _Larus marinus_, but has a very short stout bill and a black-banded tail.

In the genus _Larus_, as throughout this Family, the arrangement followed is that of Mr. Howard Saunders,[199] much of whose admirable work is here incorporated. His first section comprises species with a white tail but no hood, the young having the head striated. Of these, _L. glaucus_, the Burgomaster or Glaucous Gull, and _L. leucopterus_, the Iceland Gull, are the only members of the group with nearly white primaries, the former being larger, with proportionately shorter wings. In summer the former is circumpolar, and the latter occurs from Jan Mayen to Greenland and perhaps the west side of Baffin Bay; in winter both visit Britain, but the latter only reaches the Gulf of Gascony, and Boston in America, whereas its ally extends to the Mediterranean, the Caspian, Japan, California, and the Bermudas. At this season the head shows brown markings; while the young are entirely mottled, though they apparently become creamy white just before assuming the grey mantle. _L. glaucescens_ of the North Pacific, _L. nelsoni_ of North-West America, and _L. kumlieni_ of Cumberland Sound have the quills chequered with grey, and connect the above with the following or blacker-quilled group.

_L. argentatus_, our Herring Gull, has a blue-grey mantle; the black primaries shew white tips and "mirrors" or round white marks, as well as a grey wedge on the inner web; the feet are flesh-coloured, {307}the orbits yellowish. In winter the head is streaked, and in the young the plumage is mottled with brown. This species extends over Northern Europe and most of North America, ranging to the south of those countries in the cold season; its representative in the Mediterranean and Central Asia is _L. cachinnans_, with yellow feet and red orbits, and in Arctic Siberia _L. vegae_, chiefly differing from the last-named in its pinkish legs. _L. audouini_ of the Western Mediterranean has blackish feet, and a crimson bill with black band. _L. canus_, the Common Gull, found throughout Northern Europe and Asia, and migrating to the Mediterranean, the Nile, the Persian Gulf, and China, has white mirrors on the first three primaries, yellow bill, and greenish-yellow feet. It has occurred in Labrador, and breeds in North Britain on islands, lakes, and flat stacks, though rarely, if ever, on cliff-faces; the shrill note is more like that of the Herring Gull than the harsh cry of our Black-backs. The smaller and darker _L. brachyrhynchus_ occupies North-Western America, reaching California in winter; the paler _L. delawarensis_, with a subterminal black band on the yellowish bill, frequents lakes and marshes in North America, and breeds towards the north; _L. californicus_, with little black on the beak, inhabits western North America.

Of the Black-backed Gulls, _L. marinus_, the Great Black-back, largest of the Family except _L. glaucus_, is found from Arctic Europe to North-East America, migrating as far as the Mediterranean, the Canaries, and Florida; it has a grey wedge on the primaries like the Herring Gull, and pinkish feet. Somewhat scarce in Britain in summer and comparatively non-gregarious, it is noted for its fierceness, and will even attack sheep. The smaller _L. dominicanus_, with olive feet, ranges from lat. 10° S. in South America to South Africa and New Zealand, with the corresponding Antarctic Seas; _L. schistisagus_ of the North Pacific being intermediate between this and the next species. _L. fuscus_, the Lesser Black-back, found both on our shores and inland, has yellow feet; its main range covers North Europe, excluding Iceland; but it even breeds in Morocco and on the Red Sea, extending in winter still further southwards. The similar _L. affinis_ of North Russia and West Siberia, with coarser feet, migrates to Somaliland, India, and occasionally other districts; the very stout-billed _L. occidentalis_ represents our species on the Pacific coast of North America.

Mr. Saunders's next section contains five Gulls resembling {308}the last group in having no hood and a white tail; but here the young have the head and tail-coverts unspotted. To this belong _L. bulleri_ of New Zealand, the Chatham and Auckland Islands, with black bill and feet, which haunts inland rivers; and also four marine forms with crimson bill and feet. These are _L. scopulinus_ of New Zealand, the Chatham and Auckland Islands; the larger _L. novae hollandiae_ of Australia, Tasmania, and New Caledonia; the South African _L. hartlaubi_, found in Madagascar; and _L. gelastes_, ranging from North-West Africa and the Mediterranean to the Caspian and Sind, which lays its Tern-like eggs on sand-banks.

The third section differs in having a subterminal black band on the tail, and, in the young, an irregularly striated hood. _L. crassirostris_, of the Chinese and Japanese Seas, has the base of the tail and the under parts white, the bill yellow, banded with red and black, the feet yellowish; _L. belcheri_, of Peru and Chili, has a blackish mantle and stouter beak; _L. heermani_ of western North America has the tail black except for a white tip, a grey lower surface, red bill, and black feet; _L. modestus_, also of Peru and Chili, differing in its decidedly grey tail and black beak.

The last-named is a connecting link with the fourth section, containing the Hooded Gulls; that is, those with hoods in mature plumage, but no marked hood in the young. Of these, all except the first three have the mantle grey and the head more or less white in winter; they are rather small birds, which chiefly inhabit the north, commonly breed in marshes, and utter a shrill querulous cry.

_L. fuliginosus_ of the Galápagos, and _L. leucophthalmus_ of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, are deep lead-coloured above with black head; but the former is grey below with no admixture of white, while the latter has a white nuchal collar, as has the much browner _L. hemprichi_, extending from East Africa to Bombay. _L. cirrocephalus_ of Brazil, Argentina, and West and Central East Africa, which occurs in Peru and Natal, has a pale grey head; whereas a brown hood distinguishes _L. brunneicephalus_ of Central–and in winter Southern–Asia, _L. maculipennis_, ranging from Brazil to Patagonia and Chili, _L. glaucodes_ of Chili, Patagonia, and the Falklands, and _L. ridibundus_, the British Black-headed or Peewit Gull, which occupies Europe and temperate Asia, migrating to North Africa, India, and China. These four differ considerably in the pattern of the primaries,[200] {309}but all have red bill and feet. The colonies of our marsh-breeding species supply large quantities of eggs for eating.

[Illustration: FIG. 62.–Great Black-headed Gull. _Larus ichthyaëtus._ × 2/13.]

Of the black-hooded, grey-mantled forms, which have as a rule red bill and feet, _L. atricilla_, the Laughing Gull, of the Atlantic coast of North America and Western Mexico, alone has black outer primaries; this species and _L. franklini_, of the interior of sub-Arctic America, having exceptionally dark mantles, and the latter pinkish under parts. Both migrate south in winter. _L. philadelphia_, Bonaparte's Gull, of all North America, which, like its two following congeners, strays to Britain, has the bill black; _L. melanocephalus_, of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, has a jet black head, a partly red bill, and nearly white quills; the very large _L. ichthyaëtus_ ranging from the Black Sea and the Levant to Tibet, and wintering in Southern Asia, has the bill almost orange. _L. saundersi_, a slender-legged stout-billed bird, inhabits the rivers and coasts of China and Mongolia; _L. serranus_ of the Andes from Ecuador to Chili being a near ally. _L. minutus_, the Little Gull, frequenting marshy districts in sub-Arctic and temperate {310}Europe and Asia in summer, and reaching the Mediterranean in winter, is quite the smallest of the genus.

The lovely _Rhodostethia rosea_, or Wedge-tailed Gull, of the North Polar seas, supposed to breed on islets north of Asia and America if not of Franz Josef Land, is easily distinguished by its small black bill, red feet, black collar, and rosy lower parts. One specimen is on record in Britain. _Xema sabinii_, or Sabine's Gull, which nests on maritime marshes from Greenland westward to the Taimyr Peninsula, wanders to Britain, France, the Bermudas, and Texas, and annually visits Peru; it may be recognised by its plumbeous head, black collar, and forked tail. Of the larger collarless _X. furcatum_, with a white basal band on the maxilla, the only five examples known are from the Galápagos and Peru.

Sub-fam. 3. _Rhynchopinae._–Of this group the curiously compressed beak and the habits have already been described (pp. 301, 304). The sole genus _Rhynchops_, or Scissor-bill, contains five species, of which _R. nigra_ is black, with white forehead, cheeks, and lower parts; the wing-quills being also broadly tipped, and the tail-feathers varied, with white. The bill and feet are red, with a black end to the former. In winter the nape is whiter, while the young are buff and blackish above. Breeding from New Jersey to Florida, this bird strays to New Brunswick and migrates to Trinidad, occurring also in South-West Mexico. _R. intercedens_ of South Brazil and Argentina, and the larger _R. melanura_, of the North and West of South America, have nearly uniform brown rectrices, but the latter has little white on the secondaries. _R. flavirostris_, extending from Senegal to Damara-Land, and from Egypt and the Red Sea to Nyassa-Land, has a red and orange beak; _R. albicollis_, of India and Lower Burma, differs from it in having the back of the neck white.

Sub-fam. 4. _Sterninae._–The Terns may be commenced with the snow-white _Gygis candida_, which ranges from the islands east of Brazil to Ascension, St. Helena, Madagascar and its vicinity, the Indian Ocean, the Malay countries, Australia, the Ladrones, the Sandwich Islands and Polynesia generally. The form and habits have been already noticed (pp. 301, 303). The smaller slender-billed _G. microrhyncha_ seems to be peculiar to the Marquesas.

_Anous stolidus_, termed with its congeners the "Noddies" from their stolid indifference at times to man, chiefly frequents tropical and sub-tropical regions, and has occurred once in Ireland. It is {311}sooty-brown, with whitish forehead, grey head, black bill and lores, and reddish-brown feet; _A. galapagensis_ of the Galápagos being entirely sooty-black above. _A. (Micranous) leucocapillus_, with a weaker bill and a white crown, has a somewhat more restricted range; _A. (M.) tenuirostris_, with grey lores, ranges from the neighbourhood of Madagascar to Australia; _A. (M.) hawaiiensis_, with lighter upper parts, occurs around the Sandwich Islands. These species make a large flat nest of twigs, leaves, grass, and sea-weed, on trees, bushes, or even on the ground, laying one buffish-white egg with scattered red-brown markings. Several pairs often use one tree. _A. (Procelsterna) cinereus_, extending from Australia to Chili, and _A. (P.) caeruleus_ of Central Polynesia, are nearly grey above, but the former is white beneath. The egg is ordinarily deposited with little or no nest on a bare rock or on sand.

In all the rest of the Sub-family the tail is forked instead of graduated, though less markedly in _Naenia inca_ of Peru and Chili, which is leaden-grey, with curling white plumes below the eye, red bill and feet.

The genus _Sterna_ contains the more typical Terns or Sea-Swallows, of which the coloration–unless subsequently mentioned–is grey above, and white or lighter grey beneath and on the tail. _S. trudeaui_ of Brazil, Argentina, and Chili, which strays to the United States, and _S. melanauchen_, ranging from the Amirante and Seychelles Islands to the Liu Kiu group and Polynesia, are the only two species with the crown white in place of black in the breeding season; the former bird has a black streak through the eye, the latter a band from the lores to the nape.

_S. minuta_, the Lesser Tern, breeds in many parts of Britain, and extends from about lat. 60° N. in Europe to the Mediterranean, the Caspian, and North India, migrating to South Africa, Burma, and Java. It has a white forehead and belly, black lores, orange feet, and yellow bill with black tip. The two or three whitish or drab eggs, marked with grey and black, differ strikingly from those of the Common Tern and its allies. The larger _S. sinensis_ occurs from Bengal and Ceylon to Japan, New Guinea, and Australia; the greyer-rumped _S. antillarum_, the Least Tern, from northern South America to California and New England, or exceptionally to Labrador and West Africa; _S. saundersi_, with nearly black outer primaries, from East Africa to Burma. _S. superciliaris_, with yellow beak, is peculiar to eastern South {312}America; _S. lorata_, with grey belly, to Peru and Chili; _S. nereis_, with white lores, to Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia; _S. balaenarum_, with black forehead and base of bill, to Southern Africa.

_S. fuliginosa_, _S. anaestheta_, and _S. lunata_ are the Sooty Terns, so-called from their dark upper surface; the second being browner and the third greyer than the typical species, wherein alone the young differ from the adults in having brown lower parts instead of white. The forehead is white, the bill and feet are black, while immature birds show whitish markings above. These Terns frequent the tropics, but _S. lunata_ only occurs from the Moluccas to Laysan, the Sandwich Islands, and elsewhere in Polynesia. _S. fuliginosa_ has been obtained three times in England, occasionally on the Continent of Europe, and in America northwards to Maine. The single egg, like that of the Noddy, but with finer red, grey, and lilac markings, is laid on sand or flat rocks; descriptions of the colony, or "Wideawake Fair," on Ascension having been given by several writers.[201] _S. aleutica_ of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Japan, with a slate-grey mantle, white forehead and rump, connects the above with the next section.

The remaining species, with white foreheads, are the large _S. bergii_, ranging from East and South-West Africa to Japan and Polynesia, excluding New Zealand, and _S. bernsteini_ of the Seychelles, Rodriguez, Diego Garcia, and Halmahera, both of which have elongated nape-feathers and a yellowish bill, but grey and white rumps respectively. _S. frontalis_, of the New Zealand and Australian Seas, has a black bill.

Of large forms, with black foreheads, black feet, and lengthened nuchal plumes, _S. cantiaca_, the Sandwich Tern, breeding from Britain and the Mediterranean to the Caspian, and from New England to Honduras and both coasts of Guatemala, possesses a black bill. It migrates to Cape Colony, Sind, and Brazil. The large _S. maxima_, and the similar but smaller _S. elegans_, have the beak red; the former extending from about lat. 40° N. in America to Peru and Brazil, and in winter to West Africa; the latter from California to Chili. _S. eurygnatha_, found from Venezuela to Patagonia, only differs in its yellow bill; but _S. media_, ranging from the Mediterranean and East Africa to Australia, has the tail grey instead of white. In this section the richly marked eggs have often a creamy ground.

{313}[Illustration: FIG. 63.–Common Tern. _Sterna fluviatilis._ × ¼.]

One only of the smaller species allied to the last group has blackish bill and feet, namely _S. longipennis_,[202] occurring from Lake Baikal and Ceylon to Kamtschatka, Japan, and New Guinea. Of the remainder the Common, Arctic, and Roseate Terns breed in Britain, though the Roseate is decidedly scarce there. _S. fluviatilis_, the Common Tern, occupying the coasts and inland waters of Europe, temperate Asia, and temperate America–chiefly on the eastern side in the last case–and migrating to South Africa, India, Ceylon, and Brazil, has red feet, and red bill with horn-coloured tip, the lower parts being vinaceous grey. _S. macrura_, the Arctic Tern, frequenting the northern regions of Europe and America from lat. 82° to 50°, and 42° N. respectively, has the bill entirely red, the metatarsus comparatively short, and the breast French grey. The two or three brown-spotted eggs vary from olive to green, and are frequently ruddier than those of the Common Tern. _S. dougalli_, the Roseate Tern, differing in the nearly black bill, the white tips to the inner webs of the primaries, and the evanescent pink tinge on the under parts, is widely distributed from lat. 57° N. in the Atlantic to New Caledonia, but is apparently wanting in the Eastern Pacific. Its cry is peculiarly grating. _S. albigena_, ranging from the Red Sea to the Malabar coast, is much darker, and has orange feet; while _S. hirundinacea_, extending from Brazil and Peru to the regions south of Cape Horn, _S. vittata_ of St. Paul's, Amsterdam, Inaccessible, Tristan da Cunha, and Kerguelen Islands, and _S. virgata_ of Kerguelen Island and the Crozets are closely allied forms, of {314}which the last two are said to lay a single egg. _S. albistriata_, with but slightly elongated outer rectrices, yellow bill and feet, inhabits New Zealand and strays to Norfolk Island; _S. forsteri_, with white under parts, orange bill, and reddish feet, inhabits most of North America. _S. melanogaster_ of India, reaching northwards to Afghanistan and Bhutan, has a black belly.

Of forms with much stouter bills than _Sterna_, _Seena aurantia_, of India, the Burmese countries and Yunnan, has the bill and feet orange; _Hydroprocne caspia_, the Caspian Tern–largest of the Sub-family–has a very short tail, red bill, and black feet. The latter occupies most of the world, except tropical South America and the Pacific Islands, visiting Britain, and breeding as near to it as Sylt. _Gelochelidon anglica_, the Gull-billed Tern, with a long metatarsus, reddish-black beak and feet, occurs in Britain and is found through the temperate and tropical parts of the Old and New Worlds, but not in South Africa, and rarely in Western America. _Phaëthusa magnirostris_, of the warmer portions of North America, has a short tail, yellow bill, and olive-yellow feet.

The genus _Hydrochelidon_, or Marsh Tern, is distinguished by a short tail, a comparatively small bill, and feet with much indented webs. The note is shrill; the food consists of aquatic insects, varied by frogs, newts, and small fish: the nests, placed in close proximity on swamps or pools, are formed of water plants and are sometimes mere floating masses of them; the three eggs are often very dark olive or brown. _H. nigra_, the Black Tern or Blue Darr, ranges from Europe south of lat. 60° N. and the Mediterranean to Turkestan, wintering as far as Loango and Abyssinia. It bred in the east of England up to 1858, since which date a nest is quite exceptional, while its two congeners are only chance visitors. The colour is lead-grey, with blacker head, black bill and reddish-brown feet. The darker race _H. surinamensis_ inhabits temperate America from Alaska and Canada southwards, migrating to Chili and Brazil. _H. leucoptera_, the White-winged Black Tern, is found in Central and Southern Europe, temperate Asia and North Africa; reaching accidentally to America, and in winter from Cape Colony to Australia and New Zealand. It is chiefly black, with white carpal region, rump, tail, and vent, the bill and feet being red. _H. hybrida_, the Whiskered Tern, has a similar range, but breeds also from India to Australia. The main colour is slate-grey, the head and nape being black, the bill {315}and feet red, and a white streak marking each cheek. In the winter and immature plumage the under parts are entirely, and the head

## partially white, throughout the genus.

Of fossil Laridae _Halcyornis_ occurs in the Lower Eocene of England, _Aegialornis_[203] in the Upper Eocene of France; while the Lower Miocene of the latter country, the Middle Miocene of Germany, and the Pliocene of Oregon furnish _Larus_.

Fam. VIII. ALCIDAE.–The Sub-order ALCAE contains only this Family, or the Auks, wherein the body is heavy and compact, the head large, the plumage close and elastic. The stout bill varies extraordinarily, as will be seen under the various species. The abbreviated metatarsus is reticulated, usually with a row of scutellae in front; the long anterior toes are fully webbed, the hallux is absent or rudimentary, the claws are stout, acute, and slightly curved. The wings are very short, and the Great Auk was absolutely flightless; but most species fly strongly and rapidly to varying distances, the pinions not being flipper-like as in the Penguins, to which these birds have no affinity; like them, however, they commonly sit upright upon the metatarsus, and walk awkwardly from the feet being placed so far back, while they swim and dive to perfection. The primaries are eleven, the secondaries from fifteen to nineteen. The short tail may be rounded as in _Uria_, or graduated with pointed rectrices as in _Alca_; the quills numbering twelve, except in _A. impennis_, which has eighteen. The furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue lanceolate; the nostrils–covered with feathers in _Alca_, _Uria_ and _Mergulus_, and with a horny membrane elsewhere–are pervious. An aftershaft is present, and down is plentiful on both adults and nestlings, being in the latter fluffy, and of a black, grey, or brown colour, sometimes relieved by white. Elongated feathers, crests, and horny outgrowths are common, as described below.

Auks are entirely pelagic birds, breeding from the Polar Seas southwards to Japan, Lower California, Maine, and the Berlengas off the Tagus, while wandering further in winter; but the North Pacific may certainly be considered their headquarters. In the case of the British species a small proportion remain near shore after the autumn, but it seems to be quite uncertain where the majority spend the colder months. The members of this Family can hardly be called gregarious, except in the breeding time, {316}when vast flocks arrive with great regularity, or even to an exact day. In England this occurs at the end of March or beginning of April, the latter part of August or the first week of September being as punctually observed for departure. Except for purposes of procreation, or during violent storms, individuals are rarely seen on land, as might be expected from the clumsy style of gait; yet Puffins and Black Guillemots are fairly good walkers, and the former fly particularly straight and swiftly. Auks either splash along the surface of the waves before diving, or plunge suddenly, and when immersed use their wings much as if flying. The usual voice is a harsh-toned croak or grunt, but in addition _Simorhynchus_ is said to chatter, _Cyclorhynchus_ to whistle; _Ptychorhamphus_ utters a musical ringing sound, the Little Auk a wild cry, and Black Guillemots a shrill, plaintive note. Fish, crustaceans, worms, and the like, with chance ship-refuse, compose the diet; the birds frequently disgorging it when scared, and sometimes in order to feed the young.

The great pear-shaped egg of the Guillemots proper, and the more oval one of the Razorbill, is deposited on some bare ledge of a cliff, on a stack, or on an island rock. In the case of the latter bird the egg is usually in a crevice, being white or buff with black or brown markings, and generally, if not invariably, green inside. Guillemots' eggs vary from white or buff to brilliant green or blue, and are spotted, streaked, or covered with intricate wavy patterns of black, brown, or rufous; the same bird probably always producing similar specimens. The Black Guillemots lay two greenish-white eggs with blotches of brown, rust-colour, and grey, under close-packed boulders or in holes low down in cliffs; that of the Little Auk is pale bluish-green, with or without faint rufous stains, and is found in similar, but commonly much higher, situations; _Synthliborhamphus_ and various other forms use burrows in the turf, like Petrels, as an alternative to chinks in rocks; but the first-named produces two buff eggs, spotted with brown and grey, while the remainder lay only one, which is either white, or very indistinctly marked. Of these, Puffins fashion a considerable nest of dry materials. In some instances at least, both sexes incubate, the period being nearly five weeks. When hatched in holes the young remain there for a considerable time, otherwise they are soon assisted by their parents to reach the sea. Where unmolested, Auks are sufficiently tame; Puffins, {317}Razorbills, and so forth, however, bite severely if handled, and the first-named will fight with each other to the death.

As will be seen, the colour of both sexes in summer is black or dusky, varied by white, and occasionally brown; the winter plumage being duller and less decorative, and resembling the garb of the young. The size varies from that of the Great Auk to that of the Least or Knob-billed Auklet, the Family being confined to the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions.

_Lunda cirrata_, the Tufted Puffin, ranging from South California to Japan, and straying to Eastern America, is sooty above and greyish below; the sides of the head being white anteriorly, a "rosette" of naked red skin adorning the gape, and a nuptial tuft of long straw-coloured feathers hanging from above each eye. The feet are red, and become flesh-coloured in winter. The highly compressed bill is red in front and yellowish behind; while its base consists of three portions, separated from each other and from the transversely grooved fore-part by furrows, which deepen until the pieces become detached and expose a soft brownish skin, that hardens again towards spring. _Fratercula arctica_, the Puffin, occupies in vast numbers many of the precipitous coasts and islands of Britain, laying its large, dull white, granulated egg–faintly marked with brown and speedily begrimed–in a rock-crevice, or a burrow, often made by the bird itself. The upper parts and gorget are black, the cheeks greyish, the lower surface white, the rosettes yellow, and the feet orange-red. The base of the huge compressed and grooved bill, blue, yellow, and red in colour, is shed in nine pieces towards winter, when the cheeks become white, the rosettes reddish, and a blunt, fleshy, horn-like appendage on the upper eyelid also disappears. This species breeds northwards in the Atlantic, from the Bay of Fundy and the Berlengas off the Tagus, and (as the larger form _F. glacialis_) eastwards to Novaya Zemlya, migrating a little further south: in the Pacific, _F. corniculata_, with longer horns and more developed deciduous bill-sheath, takes its place.

_Cerorhyncha monocerata_, the Rhinoceros Auklet of the North Pacific and western North America, has a stout, curved orange and black bill, with a large compressed horn between the nostrils, and an accessory piece on the mandible; the upper parts are dusky, the lower whitish with plumbeous cheeks and throat, while a row of narrow white feathers decorates each side of the {318}head. In winter the horny processes disappear, but not the plumes. _Ptychorhamphus aleuticus_, Cassin's Auklet, of the Pacific coast of North America, is black above and white below, with a lead-coloured throat, a white iris, and a bill which is mainly black, and becomes wrinkled in summer. _Cyclorhynchus psittaculus_, the Parrot Auk of the North Pacific, has an extraordinary compressed orange-red beak, to which the blunt decurved maxilla and narrow up-curved mandible give a rounded appearance; the upper parts and the throat are dusky; the lower surface, the iris, and a row of filaments behind each eye are white, as is the throat in winter. Three species of _Simorhynchus_, from the North Pacific, have a stout orange-red or purplish bill, a white iris, and black upper parts. _S. cristatellus_, the Crested Auklet, has several deciduous plates at the base of the beak, including a round piece at each side of the gape; the lower parts are grey; a tuft of dusky plumes curls over the forehead, and a line of narrow white feathers stretches across the ear-coverts–both being permanent: in winter the bill is horn-coloured. _S. pygmaeus_, the Whiskered Auklet, is without conspicuously deciduous plates, but has an additional patch of white plumes, reaching from the beak above and below the eye at all seasons. _S. pusillus_, the Least Auklet, has on the short maxilla a small compressed basal tubercle, which is shed in winter, but exhibits no crest. The scapular region shews a good deal of white; filamentous white feathers grace the forehead, lores, and ear-coverts; and dusky spots mark the lower parts, in summer only. _Synthliborhamphus antiquus_, of the Pacific north of Vancouver Island and Japan, but accidental elsewhere, has a short, compressed, yellow and black beak, with plumbeous upper and white lower parts; the head and throat are black with a white line on each side of the occiput, the upper back is streaked with white. In winter all the stripes vanish, and the throat is white. _S. wumizusume_, of the Eastern Asiatic seas southward to Japan, has a nuptial crest of long narrow plumes, but no streaks on the back. In the cold season the whole malar region and throat are white. _Brachyrhamphus marmoratus_ of the North Pacific, reaching California in winter, has a small slender black bill, dusky upper parts barred with rufous, and white under parts varied with brown; _B. kittlitzi_, of the Aleutian Islands east to Unalashka, Kamtschatka, and North Japan, is thickly {319}spotted with buff above; _B. hypoleucus_ and _B. craveri_ of Lower California are plain slate-coloured with white lower surface, the former having white and the latter grey wing-lining. The first two species have a white nuchal collar and irregular white markings above in winter, with nearly white lower parts.

_Cepphus grylle_, the Black Guillemot of the Atlantic northwards from Britain and Maine, and of the Arctic coasts of Europe, is black with a white wing-patch, the feathers of which are black at the base; in winter the plumage is white, relieved above and sometimes below by black, and the red feet become pinkish. The compressed pointed bill is always black. _C. mandti_, occupying, as it seems, the North Polar seas generally, and breeding as far south as Labrador, has a more slender bill, and no black wing-patch. _C. columba_, ranging from Bering Strait and Japan to California, has a large wedge-shaped black mark on the white wing-patch; _C. carbo_, of North-East Asia, Japan, the Kuril and Bering Islands, shews no white except round the eye. All these forms wander southwards in winter. The Black Guillemot or Tystie still breeds in the Isle of Man, and sparsely on the East of Scotland and Ireland, in the north and west of which countries it is not uncommon. It is remarkably tame when it breeds in the wilder districts, uttering a plaintive cry, and making its way to land in the face of an intruder. The two whitish or greenish eggs, beautifully spotted with black, brown, and grey, are deposited among large boulders, or in holes at the bases of cliffs, without any nest.

Of the last group of Auks, with feathered nostrils, _Uria troile_, the well-known Common Guillemot, Willock, or Murre, breeds numerously in Britain, where the cliffs are suitable; it extends from Bear Island near Spitsbergen to the Magdalen Islands in America and the Tagus in Europe, occurring on migration southwards to the New England States and the Canaries. The plumage is dusky above and white below, with a brownish head and white alar bar. The throat, cheeks, and a few feathers on the head are white in winter; the long pointed bill and feet are blackish. The Ringed Guillemot is a mere variety with a white ring round the eye and a streak behind it; but _U. californica_, with stouter bill, from the Pacific coast of North America, may be considered a sub-species. _U. brünnichi_, distinguishable by its blacker crown, and deeper beak with a white edge to the maxilla, {320}ranges from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Iceland to the Arctic Seas of both worlds in summer, moving further south in winter; the North Pacific race being denominated _U. arra_. Descriptions of the colonies of Guillemots in the icy seas, and of the smaller but equally crowded stations in Britain, have been too frequently given to need repetition here; but it may be mentioned that during incubation, which lasts about a month, the parent holds the egg between its thighs, and not unfrequently carries it off a ledge, when suddenly scared. On flat-topped stacks these eggs (p. 316) often lie in the closest juxtaposition.

[Illustration: FIG. 64.–Great Auk. _Alca impennis._ × ⅙. (After Hancock.)]

In _Alca_ the black bill is deep and highly compressed, with a curved culmen; and shews oblique or transverse grooves, which are wanting in the young. _A. torda_, the Razorbill, less common in Britain than the Guillemot, ranges from Jan Mayen and Greenland to Maine and Brittany, visiting North Carolina and the Canaries in some winters. It is greenish-black with brown throat-region and white lower parts, a white line stretching from the top of the {321}beak to the eye, and another crossing both mandibles in the adult only. The tips of the secondaries are white, forming an alar bar, the feet are black. The throat and cheeks are white in the winter and immature plumage. _A. impennis_, the extinct Great Auk or Garefowl, inhabited the North Atlantic, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Iceland and Newfoundland, but apparently never reached north of the Arctic Circle. Remains have been found in the kitchen-middens of Denmark, North and West Scotland, and North and South Ireland; in a cave on the coast of Durham; and abundantly on Funk Island in the Newfoundland Seas, where the bird was called "Penguin"; that name being subsequently transferred to the Spheniscidae. The last two living examples were obtained at the isle of Eldey, off Iceland, in 1844, while 1812, 1821, and 1834 are the last dates of capture in Orkney, St. Kilda, and Ireland respectively, allowing for a possible instance in St. Kilda (Borrera) in 1840. This species, extirpated chiefly by the persecution of fishermen, but subsequently by collectors, resembled a flightless Razorbill, though double the size; it had no white stripes on the head or bill, but shewed a large white patch before each eye. The huge egg was white or buff, with scattered round spots or plentiful fine scrawls of black or brown; about seventy of these eggs, and a somewhat greater number of birds, existing at present in collections.[204]

_Mergulus alle_, the Little Auk or Rotche, occurring on migration in Britain, and occasionally in the Canaries, Azores, and New Jersey, breeds from Greenland and the Kara Sea to North Iceland. It is black above and white below, with a spot over the eye, streaks on the scapulars, and an alar bar also of white; the throat is black in summer only. The short, broad, arched bill is black, the feet are brownish. The single greenish- or bluish-white egg, often shewing faint rufous markings, is deposited in a deep crevice of a cliff, or among boulders on beaches.

As regards fossil forms, _Uria_ has been found in the Miocene of Maine and North Carolina, and in the Pliocene of Tuscany.

* * * * *

Of the second or Pteroclo-Columbine group of Charadriiform Birds (p. 268) the Old World Sub-Order PTEROCLES contains only–

Fam. IX. PTEROCLIDAE, or the Sand-Grouse, equally interesting as regards their structure and their habits. Originally considered {322}akin to Grouse, they have since given rise to much discussion; Dr. Gadow's view–here adopted–being that they are highly specialized forms, analogous to the Galli in their digestive organs, but homologically constituting a link between the Limicolae and the Columbae.[205] From the Pigeons they certainly differ remarkably in the condition of the chicks, which are covered with brown, creamy, and black down, and run almost immediately from the shell; yet they agree with them in most points of osteology, myology, and pterylosis, while the eggs recall those of Rails, and the flight resembles that of a Plover.

The body is compact; the bill short, arched, and fairly stout; the metatarsus abbreviated and feathered anteriorly, or entirely in _Syrrhaptes_. In this genus, moreover, the hallux, much reduced elsewhere, is totally absent; and the short front toes are enclosed in a sort of casing, which is covered as far as the thick claws with hairy plumage, the whole forming a padded foot unique among Birds. The long pointed wings have sixteen or seventeen secondaries, and eleven primaries, of which the outer has its shaft produced into a thin filament in _Syrrhaptes paradoxus_; the wedge-shaped tail has sixteen rectrices, the median pair being elongated and pointed in that genus and _Pteroclurus_ (Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse), if the latter be allowed to stand. The furcula is U-shaped, the syrinx tracheo-bronchial, the tongue lanceolate; there is a small aftershaft, and a large crop; while the down of the adults is sparingly distributed.

Sand-Grouse are true desert-birds, affording excellent instances of protective coloration in their buff or brownish tints, slightly varied with grey, black, orange, and white; _Pterocles fasciatus_ and _P. lichtensteini_, however, prefer bushy and rocky ground to bare, sandy, or stony plains. Gregarious yet monogamous, they are shy and wary, but very pugnacious among themselves; their flight is swift, strong, and noisy; their powers of walking and running good, though rather clumsy, owing to the extremely short legs. All the species lie closely until flushed, and are fond of basking in the sun on their sides, in holes scraped out for the purpose. Migration probably prevails to some extent throughout the Family, while the irruptions of _Syrrhaptes paradoxus_ into Europe (p. 324) are quite unparalleled. The cry, often uttered upon the wing, is a piercing whistle, or a twittering {323}or clucking sound; though that of _Syrrhaptes_ appears to be hoarser, and has been syllabled as "truck-turuck" and "caga-caga" in _S. paradoxus_ and _S. tibetanus_ respectively. The alarm-note is of a croaking nature. The food consists of seeds, tender shoots, bulbous grass-roots, and insects, or even of berries, peas, and beans; while the birds flock to drink at certain favourite spots, and are variously stated to take continuous or interrupted draughts. The nest is a mere hollow in the soil, frequently lined with a little grass; the three oval, but peculiarly cylindrical, eggs vary from whitish to buff, or greenish in _Syrrhaptes_, and are marked with brown, reddish, and violet. Both sexes assist in incubation, which lasts from twenty-five to twenty-eight days. Opinions vary as to the edible quality of the flesh.

[Illustration: FIG. 65.–Pallas's Sand-Grouse. _Syrrhaptes paradoxus._ × 3/10.]

_Pterocles arenarius_, ranging from the Canary Islands, North Africa, and Madagascar to South Europe and Central Asia, has dark grey upper parts, with orange-yellow markings, except on the white-tipped primaries and tail; the chestnut throat surmounts a black patch, which is succeeded by a breast of the same dove-colour as the head, crossed by a black band; the belly being black also. The bill is horn-coloured, the feet are greyish. The female is buff, barred above and spotted below with black; her throat is yellowish-white, and the black areas on her lower surface are as in the male. _P. decoratus_ of East Africa, _P. bicinctus_ and _P. variegatus_ of South Africa, _P. coronatus_ and _P. lichtensteini_, extending from the Sahara and Kordofan respectively to North-West India, _P. gutturalis_ of East Africa, _P. personatus_ of Madagascar, _P. fasciatus_ of India–the only species peculiar to Asia–and _P. quadricinctus_, found from Senegambia to Abyssinia, are fairly similar to the above, though chiefly sandy in some cases.

_Pteroclurus alchata_, absurdly termed "Perdrix d'Angleterre" {324}in France, and Rock-Pigeon in India, is grey above, with yellow tips to the dorsal feathers; it has black, brown, and greyish-white wings, shewing chestnut and yellow on the coverts; yellowish rump and long median rectrices barred with black. The cheeks are orange, the throat is black with a little yellow beneath, the upper breast is chestnut-red, bordered by a black line above and below, the remaining under parts are white, the bill and feet brownish. The female differs in her white throat, and in her upper surface irregularly marked with buff, grey, and black. This species occurs in South Europe, North Africa, and South-West Asia; _P. namaqua_ inhabits South Africa; _P. exustus_ ranges from Senegal to the Pangani River in East Africa, and through Palestine to Central Asia and India; while _P. senegallus_ extends from the Sahara to Palestine, Arabia, and North-West India.

_Syrrhaptes paradoxus_, Pallas's Sand-Grouse, has buff upper parts barred with black; mainly blue-grey wings and tail, with black and chestnut markings on the former, and white tips to the lateral rectrices; dull yellow crown and cheeks; orange nape and throat; greyish-buff neck and breast, white abdomen and metatarsal plumage, an interrupted black gorget, and a broader black band towards the belly. The female has less elongated median tail-feathers, black streaks on the buff head, a black bar across the throat, and is duller generally. _S. tibetanus_, with entirely white belly, the largest of the Family, extends from the Sutlej and South Kashmir to Koko-Nor; but its congener reaches from the Lower Volga or the Kirghiz Steppes to the north of Lake Baikal and North China, while some erratic impulse of uncertain origin causes it to invade the plains of China and the whole of Europe at irregular intervals. One specimen was obtained at Sarepta on the Volga in 1848, and again in 1860, when flocks visited Pekin; in 1859 a few examples occurred on the Continent, and between July and November three wandered to Britain; while in 1863 some 700 individuals reached our shores by May 21, straying as far as Ireland, but vanishing towards autumn. Several pairs bred on the sand-hills of Holland and Jutland. In 1872 and 1876 small parties visited us; and in 1888 another and incalculably larger invasion took place, which extended farther southward than that of 1863, and after entering Europe before the beginning of April, occupied Britain between May 6 and May 15, to remain there throughout {325}that year and the succeeding. Besides breeding in Denmark, Holstein, and no doubt elsewhere on the Continent, two pairs nested in 1888 in the east of Yorkshire, and one or more on the Culbin Sands in Moray, whence in 1889 Professor Newton received on August 8 a chick of two or three days old. This was exhibited at the Newcastle Meeting of the British Association, and subsequently figured in _The Ibis_.[206] Doubtless the above were not the only cases of reproduction in England, and it was hoped that a protective Act, which came into force in February 1889, would lead to permanent colonization; but by 1890, or, according to some, 1892, all the birds had disappeared.

As a fossil, _Pterocles_ occurs in the Eocene and Miocene of France.

* * * * *

The Sub-Order COLUMBAE must certainly be divided into the Families _Dididae_ for the Dodo and Solitaire, and _Columbidae_ for the Pigeons, while a third, _Didunculidae_, may be added to contain the Tooth-billed Pigeon of Samoa, to which _Otidiphaps_ of Papuasia is possibly allied. For convenience sake we may accept four Sub-families of the _Columbidae_, namely (1) _Gourinae_, (2) _Peristerinae_, (3) _Columbinae_, and (4) _Treroninae_, though the arrangement is somewhat arbitrary. Dr. Gadow[207] segregates _Caloenatinae_, but not _Peristerinae_, while he and Count Salvadori[208] agree in considering _Didunculus_ merely on a level with these subdivisions.

Throughout the group the body is compact, while the bill varies from stout to slender, being swollen and hardened at the decurved tip, which forms a hook in the Dididae and Didunculidae. The base of this feature is covered with a soft skin or cere, containing the nostrils; _Globicera_, _Vinago calva_, and _Ptilopus insolitus_ have a fleshy or bony knob at the posterior part of the culmen, said to be most prominent in the breeding season; and _Didunculus_ has the mandible toothed and truncated. The metatarsi, reticulated in the Gourinae, but scutellated elsewhere, are usually partly feathered, especially in Fruit-Pigeons; some species of _Columbigallina_, however, have them naked; _Drepanoptila_ has them entirely covered; and in many domestic breeds the plumage extends over the toes, which are all on the same level, and possess moderate claws. The skin is more or less expanded {326}on each side of the digits. The rounded wings are commonly long, but are short in Ground-Pigeons, and aborted in the flightless Dididae, the primaries numbering eleven and the secondaries from ten to seventeen; the former are bifurcated at the tip in _Drepanoptila_, attenuated in some members of _Ptilopus_, _Oxypelia_, _Peristera_, and _Leptoptila_, while one or more of the three outer feathers is not uncommonly scalloped. The tail varies considerably in form and dimensions, being wedge-shaped in _Sphenocercus_, rounded in _Zenaida_, _Phabotreron_, and _Megaloprepia_, acuminate in _Ectopistes_, long and graduated in _Oena_, _Macropygia_, and _Reinwardtoenas_, and so forth. The rectrices range from twelve to twenty, sixteen being the normal number in the Gourinae, twelve in the Columbinae, and fourteen in the Treroninae. The neck-feathers may be bifurcated, as in _Alectoroenas_, _Columba guinea_, and occasionally in _Turtur_, or those of the breast, as in some species of _Macropygia_, _Ptilopus_, and _Phaenorrhina_; the neck, moreover, is hackled in _Caloenas_ and _Lopholaemus_, and the body-plumage is generally narrow with widely-separated barbs in _Chrysoenas_. Five members of _Phlogoenas_ have a patch of stiff feathers over the crop; while the splendid decomposed crest of _Goura_ is exceptionally striking, and more ordinary tufts grace the head in _Lopholaemus_, _Coryphoenas_, _Lophophaps_, _Ocyphaps_, and elsewhere. The forehead is sometimes nearly bare, as are the lores and eyelids in _Gymnophaps_; naked red or yellow orbits are found in _Gymnopelia_, _Reinwardtoenas_, _Macropygia_, _Turacoena_, _Didunculus_, and _Columba gymnophthalma_, not to mention other instances; while the tendency reaches its height in the huge circumocular wattles of several fanciers' races. In _Serresius_ a feathered "saddle" extends over half the culmen.

The furcula is U-shaped, being much reduced in the Dididae; the syrinx is remarkable for the asymmetrical union of the sterno-tracheal muscles; the tongue is lanceolate; the impervious nostrils are linear in the Columbidae and Didunculidae, oblique in the Dididae. The crop is more highly developed than in other Families. The gizzard of _Caloenas_ is remarkable for an indurated horn-like patch on each side of the epithelial lining, that of _Carpophaga latrans_ has the interior beset with similar conical prominences, correlated with a diet of hard fruit. _Phaenorrhina_ has these cones still more developed, and _Ptilopus_ agrees with _Drepanoptila_ in possessing four pads in the above organ instead {327}of two, the regular number in Birds. The after-shaft is rudimentary or absent, the adults have no down, the young are hatched blind and naked, and remain for a long time in the nest. The plumage is commonly dull blue or brown, with an iridescent sheen; but remarkably brilliant purple, red, yellow, and green hues manifest themselves in forms such as _Ptilopus_, _Chrysoenas_, and _Caloenas_ from the islands of the Eastern Seas, the headquarters of the Family. Though smaller, the female usually resembles the male; but _Turturoena_, _Oena_, and _Peristera_ are examples of diversity, while immature examples are duller than adults. _Goura_ approaches the size of a goose, whereas _Columbigallina_ is little larger than a sparrow. Of domestic Pigeons the Rock-Dove is undoubtedly the origin, but the breeds are now infinite in their variety.[209]

Omitting the abnormal Didine Birds, the habits of the members of this group are fairly uniform, the majority of them inhabiting wooded country; while even those like _Phaps_, _Lophophaps_, and _Geophaps_, which occupy the arid plains of Australia, are to be found at times where vegetation is plentiful; and in all cases the proximity of water seems indispensable. Fruit-Pigeons frequent trees, and the most typical Columbine forms are found in woods or among rocks, though the smaller Doves naturally prefer the lower bushes. Wood-Pigeons towards winter, and Passenger-Pigeons when nesting–not to mention other instances–gather in large flocks; in some cases, however, the parties only number about half a dozen, and more solitary habits are by no means uncommon. The flight is strong, rapid, and direct, though the Ground-Pigeons remain a comparatively short time upon the wing, and some species prefer to run unless forced to rise, _Oena_ being an especially good walker. The well-known "homing" powers of trained birds, the curious backward somersaults of the Tumbler, and the sudden rise and clap of the wings so noticeable in the Wood-Pigeon when courting, merit a passing mention. Every member of the Family perches, and many delight to bask in the sun. The note is always of the nature of a coo, but is especially loud and deep in _Myristicivora_, _Megaloprepia_, and some members of _Carpophaga_, guttural in _Haplopelia_, mournful in _Peristera_ and _Zenaidura_, harsh and trumpet-like in _Goura_; the voice of the Turtle-Dove suggests a purr, while _Tympanistria_ and _Starnoenas_ possess powers of ventriloquism. {328}The food of the Wood-Pigeon is grain, beech-mast, acorns, turnips, and tender shoots of plants; that of Fruit-Pigeons consists of figs, palm-nuts, grapes, and so forth, plucked from the tree, and in the case of _Myristicivora bicolor_ and _Globicera myristicivora_, largely of the mace which encases the nutmeg; Ground-Doves and other small forms subsist mainly on seeds of grasses; and it may be safely inferred that in most cases the diet varies considerably. _Turturoena_ is stated to eat Cicada larvae; _Leucosarcia_ those of Diptera; _Goura_ and _Otidiphaps_ worms, snails, and insects. Pigeons, unlike birds generally, take continuous draughts of water, immersing the bill to the base. The nest is usually a slight platform of sticks, placed aloft on a branch or in a bush; but our Rock-Dove and _Columba phaeonota_ of South Africa breed in caves or holes in rocks; the Stock-Dove prefers hollow trees, rabbit-burrows, and the like; _Geophaps_ the bare soil; and so forth. _Phaps_, _Peristera_, and _Zenaida_ nest either on the ground or in bushes, but the latter appear to be almost invariably chosen by Ground-Doves like _Columbigallina_ and _Geopelia_. The white eggs are two, or exceptionally three, in number; the Dodo, however, laid only one, and so do _Caloenas_, _Ectopistes_, _Didunculus_, and some species of _Carpophaga_ and _Columba_, as well as _Goura_, where it is larger than that of a tame Duck. Societies, such as those of _Ectopistes_ and _Caloenas_, are most unusual. Some Pigeons breed three times a year, the male commonly assisting in incubation, which lasts from fourteen to twenty-eight days. The members of this Family are shy, but readily tamed; yet the Collared Turtle-Dove is perhaps the only really good cage-bird. Most of them are excellent for the table, _Leucosarcia_, _Geophaps_, _Goura_, and the Treroninae being accounted particularly delicate, while the Wood-Pigeon and the domestic breeds speak for themselves. The great damage, however, done to crops, such as turnips, peas, or barley, by the flocks counterbalances their economic value to a considerable extent, the most typical forms being undoubtedly the worst offenders.

Fam. X. DIDIDAE.–This consists of three extinct species–_Didus ineptus_, the Dodo of Mauritius, _D. borbonicus_ of Réunion (Bourbon), and _Pezophaps solitarius_, the Solitaire of Rodriguez.

The Dodo, familiar to all by name, if not by pictures, was an immense Pigeon-like bird bigger than a Turkey, with an aborted keel to the sternum and the wings also aborted. The coracoid and scapula met at an obtuse angle, as in many other flightless species. {329}The huge blackish bill terminated in a large horny hook, the cheeks were partly bare, the short yellow legs were stout, scaly, and feathered on the upper portion; the plumage was dark ash-coloured, with whitish breast and tail, yellowish-white wings, and black tips to their coverts. The short rectrices formed a curled tuft, and the first four primaries were directed backwards.

[Illustration: FIG. 66.–Dodo. _Didus ineptus._ (After Savery's Vienna picture.)]

This uncouth and unwieldy species, of which a full account will be found in the works mentioned below,[210] which have been largely utilized here, was noticed as early as 1598 by the Dutch, who called it Walghvogel, or Nauseous Bird, from their dislike of its flesh, and the island, where it was then found abundantly, Mauritius. The earliest representation was given in 1601 by De Bry, who stated that an example was brought alive to Holland. Other Dutch fleets subsequently visited the island, and several sketches of the Dodo were made, while one of the captains records that it was indifferently called Dodaars or Dronte. Roelandt Savery of Courtrai (1576-1639) painted the Dodo–probably from life–more than once, pictures by him still existing in {330}Berlin (1626), Vienna (1628), the Hague, Pommersfelden, Stuttgart, and London, the last-named belonging to the Zoological Society. The British Museum also possesses an undated picture, another is at Haarlem, a third at Oxford; while one by Goiemare at Sion House (dated 1627), and one said to be by Hoefnagel in the library of the late Emperor of Austria (_circa_ 1620) were possibly taken from living birds. In 1628 Englishmen appeared on the scene, Emanuel Altham having sent a specimen home alive to his brother, while Herbert, accompanying the same fleet, mentioned the Dodo and figured it. About 1634 an example was given to the Anatomy School at Oxford by a Mr. Gosling, and some four years later Sir Hamon Lestrange saw a captive bird in London. Finally, we may note that individuals existed in Mauritius until 1681, as proved by the journal of Benjamin Harry.

In 1865 the discovery of a large quantity of remains in the Mare aux Songes, by Mr. G. Clark, enabled Owen and others to confirm the suggestion of the Danish naturalist, Reinhardt, of the Dodo's affinity to the Pigeons; while in 1889 M. Sauzier, acting for the Government of Mauritius, sent to the late Sir Edward Newton a series of bones from the same spot, enabling the first correctly restored and properly mounted skeleton to be returned for the museum of that island, and the important paper, noticed above, to be published by the last-named and Dr. Gadow. Nearly perfect specimens exist at Cambridge, in the British Museum, and at Paris.

The Dodo is said to have inhabited forests, to have swallowed pebbles, to have uttered a cry like that of a gosling, and to have laid one large white egg on a mass of grass. Hogs and other imported animals seem to have conduced to its extermination, as well as the hand of man.

_Didus borbonicus_ had white plumage, varied with yellow, the first four primaries being directed forwards and downwards. It is mentioned by Tatton (1625), Du Bois (1669), and Carré (1699); while Bontekoe (1646) gave a figure apparently intended to represent it, and another by Pierre Witthoos (_ob._ 1693) was in existence a few years ago. It was originally called the Solitaire, but this name was also applied to _Pezophaps solitarius_ of Rodriguez by the Huguenot exile Leguat, who described and figured the latter about 1691. _Pezophaps_ was subsequently briefly noticed by D'Heguerty (1751) and again by Pingré (1761), who heard {331}that it still existed in inaccessible districts; while it is also mentioned in an anonymous manuscript discovered at Paris, written perhaps about 1729. Remains came into the hands of Desjardins in 1789 (not fully recognised until 1832), and others were forwarded to England; but much the most important finds were those of the late Sir Edward Newton in 1864, followed up by Mr. Jenner in the succeeding years, and of Mr. H. H. Slater in 1874.[211] In 1875 two complete skeletons were obtained, and fairly perfect specimens of those of each sex are at Cambridge, with others elsewhere.

This Solitaire was larger than a Swan, the male standing about 2 feet 9 inches, and the female 2 feet 3 inches high; the colour of the former was brownish-grey, but the latter varied from the hue of "fair hair" to brown, and had a whitish breast. The slightly-hooked, elongated beak had a feathered ridge or peak at the base of the culmen, the neck was elongated and straight, the legs were longer and weaker than in the Dodo, the wings were rudimentary, the hind part (pelvis) was rounded, the tail was hardly noticeable, and the thigh-feathers were thick, and curved like shells at the end. A spherical mass of bone, "as big as a musket-ball," was developed on the wings of the males; and they used it, in addition to the beak, as a weapon of offence, while they whirled themselves about twenty or thirty times in four or five minutes, making a noise with their pinions like a rattle. The mien was fine and the walk stately, the birds being seen singly or in pairs; the nest was a heap of palm-leaves a foot or more high, the single large egg was incubated by both parents. The food is said to have consisted of seeds and leaves, and a stone as big as a hen's egg was often found in the stomach.

Fam. XI. DIDUNCULIDAE.–_Didunculus strigirostris_, the Manu-meà or Red Bird of the islands of Upolu, Savai, and Tutuila in the Samoan group, is glossy greenish-black, with chestnut back, rump, wing-coverts, tail and under tail-coverts, but browner wing-quills and abdomen. The hooked and toothed bill is orange, the feet are reddish, and the naked orbits red. The sexes are similar, the young entirely brown. First made known by Strickland on the strength of its discovery in the autumn of 1839 by Peale {332}during the United States Exploring Expedition under Commander Wilkes, it has since been met with by several travellers and missionaries, three living specimens having been exhibited in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. By 1863 it was regarded as nearly extinct on Upolu, where it was formerly abundant, though it still held its own on Savai; but in 1874 an increase was reported from the latter island, which was attributed to a change of habits, the birds having become arboreal instead of terrestrial.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.–Manu-meà or Tooth-billed Pigeon. _Didunculus strigirostris._ × ¼.]

The oldest accounts, derived from native sources, stated that _Didunculus_ was essentially a ground species, living on thickly-wooded mountain-sides in flocks of about a dozen, and feeding on berries, plantains (bananas), and yam fruit, while it roosted on low stumps, and bred on the ground, being rather shy, and taking to flight noisily with much flapping of the wings. Mr. Whitmee[212] and others, however, tell us that it now feeds almost exclusively on high trees, roosting aloft, and building in the forks. But as early as 1852 Lieutenant Walpole[213] asserted that the bird bred among rocks, perched and fed on trees, and flew from wood to wood, or even from island to island, so that it is not impossible that its supposed affinity to the Dodo led writers astray, and that its fondness for the ground was greatly exaggerated. No doubt danger from introduced cats and rats would force the nest to be placed higher.

{333}The Tooth-billed Pigeon was usually found in pairs or small parties, and was in great request for food among the natives, who, moreover, kept individuals tethered to sticks as pets, while the chiefs erected small huts in which to feed the flocks. They were often attracted by decoys, and caught with bird-lime. The habits are diurnal, or somewhat crepuscular; the note apparently varies from deep and guttural to low and plaintive; and breeding takes place from May to September, the single egg being white. The birds are decidedly pugnacious in captivity, and occasionally nibble their food in Parrot fashion.

[Illustration: FIG. 68.–Crowned Pigeon. _Goura coronata._ × ⅑.]

Fam. XII. COLUMBIDAE.–If we omit the Arctic and Antarctic countries, this group forms a remarkably cosmopolitan Family, though with an irregular distribution. Roughly speaking, there are recognised some dozen Palaearctic, and still fewer Nearctic species, with about seventy Neotropical and forty Ethiopian; India possesses about thirty, the Malay Archipelago perhaps a hundred and twenty, New Guinea and the Moluccas a hundred. Many island forms occur in Polynesia, but Australia can barely claim twenty, the New Zealand seas only furnish two, and the Sandwich Islands none.

{334}Sub-fam. 1. _Gourinae._–This contains seven species of _Goura_–_G. coronata_ of Western New Guinea, Waigiou, Batanta, Salawatti, and Mysol, _G. cinerea_ of the Arfak Mountains, _G. sclateri_ of Central and Southern New Guinea, _G. albertisi_ of South-East New Guinea, _G. scheepmakeri_, probably from South-West New Guinea–all of which have the erect crest-feathers with entirely decomposed webs–_G. victoria_ of Jobi and Mysori, and _G. beccarii_ of Central and North New Guinea–which have them with spatulate tips. The first of these, discovered by Dampier in 1699, is bluish-slate-coloured, with darker wings, and some black on the chin and sides of the head; a broad chestnut band crossing the back, one of white shewing conspicuously on the wing, and one of grey terminating the tail. The other species differ in the amount of chestnut above, the wing-bar being grey and the breast chestnut in some cases. These birds are found near open or cultivated lands, ranging from the coast regions to an altitude of a thousand feet; they feed in small flocks, and eat seeds, berries, and other fruits, buds of plants, worms, and insects. The usual note is long, harsh, and trumpet-like, the love-call a short mournful coo. When disturbed they take to cover, and pitch upon low branches, where they also roost; in the heat of the day they lie in the shade with outspread wings and tail; and in the courting-season the cocks fight savagely for the hens. The nest, a careless platform of sticks, contains one large white egg.

Sub-fam. 2. _Peristerinae._–This ranges over both the Old and the New World, _Zenaida_, _Peristera_, and their closest allies being confined to the latter, while _Turtur_, _Phaps_, and so forth belong to the former.

Group (_a_).–_Caloenas nicobarica_, which extends from the Nicobar Islands through the Malay Archipelago to the Solomons, is a metallic-green bird, with bronzy reflexions and blackish head, neck, and upper breast, most of the remiges being black, and the tail with its coverts white. The long narrow neck-hackles, the roughly-scaled legs, and the black knob at the base of the bill are also remarkable features. Partly but not entirely terrestrial, it walks at a great rate, feeds mainly upon the ground on seeds, utters a croaking note, often builds in societies on trees, and lays one white egg. _C. pelewensis_, of the Pelew Islands, is smaller and bluer.

Group (_b_).–This section of the Sub-family contains several robust forms, with fairly long, stout legs, and short, rounded wings. {335}_Otidiphaps nobilis_ of Western New Guinea and Batanta, _O. cervicalis_ of South-East New Guinea, and _O. insularis_ of Fergusson Island, are greenish-black, chestnut, and purple, with the bill red, the feet reddish with rough yellow scales, and the nape green, grey, and black respectively. They have no less than twenty rectrices, while the first two have an occipital crest. These Pigeons, said to resemble Megapodes in habits, frequent hills or dense thickets, often near the sea-coast, but are difficult of observation, owing to their shyness; they run swiftly with erect outspread tail, perch on low boughs, and have a harsh cry, varied by a plaintive note; the food consists of fruits, roots, and snails. The nest, containing one egg, is said to be placed at the foot of a tree. _Starnoenas cyanocephala_, of Cuba and the Florida Keys, is brown above and purplish-rufous below, with a blue crown surrounded by black, a black throat with a white basal line, a white stripe across each cheek, and red bill and feet varied with bluish. This bird, the "Perdiz" of the Cubans, frequents wooded hills and has somewhat gallinaceous habits; the food consists of seeds, berries, and snails, the hollow note having the effect of ventriloquism. Another long-legged, terrestrial genus from New Guinea is _Eutrygon_; _E. terrestris_ being olivaceous lead-coloured, with rufous outer margins to the brown remiges, while _E. leucopareia_ has a reddish hue on the wing-coverts. _Leucosarcia picata_, the white-fleshed Wonga-wonga of Eastern Australia, is blue-black with white forehead, pectoral band, and central abdomen. It inhabits the brushes, and feeds chiefly upon the ground on seeds, fruits, and insect-larvae; the flight is of short duration and the habits somewhat Pheasant-like; the nest is in a tree. _Phlogoenas_ contains a score of members ranging from the Philippines and Timor to the Society Islands. _P. luzonica_ of Luzon has purplish upper parts, a greyish-blue head, and yellowish-white lower parts, with a patch of stiff red decomposed feathers over the crop; the inner webs of the remiges are more or less rufous, a characteristic found also in _Chalcopelia_, _Columbigallina_, _Scardafella_, and _Leptoptila_, from very different parts of the world. _P. rufigula_, of New Guinea and the islands to the north-west, has the crop-patch yellowish-ochre; _P. tristigma_ of North Celebes is perhaps most striking of all, with its yellow breast and forehead, green head, purple nape, and green and purple tints on the brown upper back; _P. stairi_ of the Fiji and Tonga {336}Islands has a greenish-grey head and brownish upper surface, with brilliant violet-purple on the wings and a vinous breast, while the female differs in being olive-brown, with the head and breast dull cinnamon. _P. kubaryi_ of the Caroline group is almost entirely violet-purple above, the head being grey, the forehead, sides of the neck, throat, and breast white. _Geotrygon_ with some dozen and a half species extends from South Mexico to Paraguay, several of them being peculiar to the West Indies. _G. montana_, the "Mountain-Partridge," ranges from Key West and Cuba to Paraguay. It has a purplish-rufous upper surface, while the lower parts are whitish-fawn colour, with a purplish breast. The female is olive with a tinge of gold above, and chiefly buff below, with browner breast. _G. chrysia_ of Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Florida Keys has reddish-brown upper parts, with reflexions of brilliant purple, green, and gold, and vinaceous-white lower parts. _G. violacea_ of Central America and Brazil, _G. cristata_, the Mountain-Witch, of Jamaica, _G. linearis_ of Colombia, and other species, bear a general resemblance to the above. These birds frequent thickly-wooded districts or mountainous tracts, where they feed upon the ground on seeds, fallen berries, snails, and slugs. They often have recourse to running, yet the flight is rapid and whirring; the note is a moaning coo, the nest a slight structure on bushes, trees, or even the ground. _Osculatia purpurea_ and _O. sapphirina_ are two beautiful Ecuadorian Pigeons, of which the former has a rich purple crown and occiput, a purplish-violet mantle with duller wings, a violet rump, a bronzy-green hind-neck, a white forehead, throat, and abdomen, a greyish breast, and white cheeks with a black transverse stripe below. The latter has the crown grey, the occiput golden-green. _Leptoptila_ (_Engyptila_ of some authors), distributed from Texas to Argentina, contains about seventeen somewhat similar forms, which have olive-brown upper parts, with red, green, and dove-coloured reflexions, and usually pinkish-white or greyish under parts. The wing-quills almost invariably shew some cinnamon on their inner webs, while in _L. rufinucha_, the region of the nape is rufous. The White-bellied Pigeon of Jamaica (_L. jamaicensis_) is an unsuspicious bird which habitually lives on the ground in woods, eats seeds and fruits, runs, walks, or flies for short distances, and sometimes uses straw instead of sticks for its nest. The genus _Haplopelia_ is restricted to the Ethiopian {337}Region, _H. larvata_ of South Africa, _H. bronzina_ of Abyssinia and Shoa, _H. principalis_ of Prince's Island, _H. simplex_ of St. Thomas, _H. johnstoni_ of Nyassa-Land, and _H. inornata_ of the Cameroons, being all much alike. The first-mentioned–common in woods near Cape Town–is plain brown, with green and purple gloss on the crown and nape, a white forehead and throat, and vinaceous breast with coppery reflexions. It is the Cinnamon or Lemon Dove of the colonists, and feeds chiefly on berries, obtained upon the ground.

Group (_c_).–The third section of the Peristerinae is confined to the Old World, and shews metallic blue or green wing-spots or patches. _Ocyphaps lophotes_, the swift Crested Bronze-wing of the interior of Australia, is found in flocks, especially near water, and has a remarkable habit, when alighting, of erecting its long, black crest and elevating its tail until they almost meet. It is a grey bird, possessing bronzy-green wing-coverts tipped with white, a metallic purple gloss on the secondaries, and peacock-blue outer rectrices. _Lophophaps plumifera_ of North-West Australia, which has a western race, _L. ferruginea_, and a southern, _L. leucogaster_, is a terrestrial species, frequenting creeks in the desert, and running on the ground like a Quail. The nest is a mere hole in the ground lined with a little grass; the eggs are said to be creamy-white. The Plumed Bronze-wing, as it is called, has the general plumage and full crest pale cinnamon, the throat white, with a black median stripe, a black gorget, a crescentic band of grey on the chest with a black line below, and a few purple spots on the secondaries. _Geophaps scripta_, the Partridge Bronze-wing or Squatter of North-West and East Australia, has a peculiar habit of squatting on the ground or on the branches of any tree in which it takes refuge. It is light brown above and grey below, with curious black and white markings on the sides of the head and throat; the wing-coverts have pale tips, and the innermost of the greater series greenish-purple outer webs. _G. smithi_ of North-West Australia is browner. From the same parts comes _Petrophassa albipennis_, which frequents rocks, though its nest has not yet been recorded; it is a reddish-brown bird with greyer head, grey centres to the feathers, and concealed purplish spots on the wing-coverts; the throat is black and white, the primaries brown with white bases. _Histrioniphaps histrionica_, of the interior and North-West of Australia, has brown upper {338}and grey under parts; the head is finely varied with jet-black and pure white, the secondaries shew patches of metallic-purple, and the primaries have white tips and partly rufous inner webs. The female is much duller. It is essentially a Ground-Pigeon, and breeds on the bare soil of the plains; but the flight is much stronger than might be expected, as is also the case with _Geophaps_. _Phaps chalcoptera_ and _P. elegans_, of Australia and Tasmania, in their mode of life resemble the preceding, though the latter species is the more terrestrial, while both usually build in low trees or bushes. _P. chalcoptera_, the Common Bronze-wing, is extremely handsome, the greyish-brown upper surface being relieved by a purple band on the crown and most brilliant bronze and green spots upon the wing; the breast is pinkish, the throat white, and the forehead white with a wash of yellow. The inner webs of the remiges are

## partly rufous. _P. elegans_, the Brush Bronze-wing, is a shorter-winged

bird, with chestnut throat and grey breast. _Henicophaps albifrons_ of New Guinea and the adjacent western islands has the forehead whitish, the neck and under parts rich reddish-purple, the back blue-black, the wings glossed with golden-green and bronze, and their coverts margined with chestnut. The beak is longer and stouter than in the allied forms, and the bird is partly arboreal. _Calopelia puella_ of West Africa is a fine cinnamon-coloured bird, with blue head and iridescent green spots on the wings. Of _Chalcophaps_, ranging from India, Burma, and South China, through the islands to Australia and the New Hebrides, Count Salvadori makes two divisions, though the species are little more than local races. Of the first of these, with golden-green mid-back and scapulars, _C. indica_, the Emerald Dove or Beetle-wing, may be taken as typical; the head is blue with white forehead and sides, the upper back is purplish, the wing-coverts golden-green, the lower back bronzy with two grey bars, the rump nearly black, and the under parts purplish-pink. The female is brown and somewhat redder below, with grey forehead. This species covers nearly the whole range of the genus, but only stretches eastward to Geelvink Bay in New Guinea. _C. chrysochlora_ reaches from Timor to the New Hebrides; _C. sanghirensis_ occurs in Great Sanghir Island; _C. natalis_ in Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. _C. stephani_, of Celebes and Papuasia, and _C. mortoni_, of the Solomon Islands, constitute the second division, where the mid-back and {339}scapulars are reddish-cinnamon. These Pigeons frequent bushy districts, feed on the ground on seeds and fruits, run fast, and fly swiftly for short distances. They have a mournful note, breed on low trees, and make a fairly compact nest of roots, grass, or twigs. _Chalcopelia afra_ inhabits Africa south of Abyssinia and Senegambia. It has olive-brown upper parts, with two black stripes across the lower back, and a few large spots of brilliant purple and green on the wing; the under parts are pinkish, and the inner webs of the primaries and their coverts bright rufous. _C. chalcospilus_, with the spots golden-green, is probably a variety. They inhabit bushy country in pairs, the flight, food, note, and nest being similar to those of _Chalcophaps_. _Tympanistria bicolor_ is a similar but greyer bird, with the purple spots almost black and the lower parts white; it inhabits Southern Africa, Madagascar, the Comoros, and Fernando Po. The very long-tailed _Oena capensis_ is pale brown above and white below, with black face and throat, grey crown, two black bands across the lower back, and steel-blue patches on the wings. The inner webs of the primaries and their coverts are cinnamon. The female has a white face and throat. It is a bird of rough bushy country, which is seldom found in flocks, utters a deep plaintive note, and breeds in low trees. This species walks with the utmost rapidity, and feeds upon the ground on seeds of grasses and grain. It is found in tropical and Southern Africa, in Madagascar, and at Aden and Jeddah.

Group (_d_).–The most typical Peristerinae constitute a fourth section, usually with metallic wing-spots, restricted to America. _Metriopelia melanoptera_ and _M. aymara_ range from Ecuador and Peru respectively to Chili and the borders of Argentina. The former is greyish-brown above and vinaceous below, with black wings and tail, the latter has golden spots on the wing-coverts. They are found in small flocks in the valleys of the Andes, and in winter on the coast, being called by the natives "Tortola cordillerana," or "Cordillera Dove." _Peristera cinerea_ is bluish-grey in the male, with lighter under parts, black remiges and outer rectrices, some velvety black spots being very conspicuous on the wings and scapulars. The female is brown, with cinnamon wing-spots. This species ranges from South Mexico to Paraguay; while _P. geoffroyi_, with white-tipped lateral tail-feathers and a grey breast, inhabits South-East Brazil; _P. mondetoura_, with {340}chestnut breast, occurs from South Mexico to Peru. They frequent wooded and hilly districts, forming small flocks and uttering a cry resembling "huup-huup." _Oxypelia cyanopis_, of the interior of Brazil, and _Uropelia campestris_, of that country and Bolivia, link the above genus to _Columbigallina_, which contains six species. _C. passerina_ extends from the southern United States and the West Indies to Peru and Paraguay; _C. minuta_ occupies a similar range, except for the United States; and _C. cruziana_ reaches from Ecuador to North Chili–all with naked feet; _C. buckleyi_ inhabits Ecuador and Peru; _C. talpacoti_, most of South America north of Paraguay; _C. rufipennis_ ranges from Mexico to the north of South America, these three having the metatarsi feathered laterally. _C. passerina_ is olive-grey, with violet spots on the wing and purplish coverts; the feathers of the forehead and under parts being vinous, with dull brown centres to the latter, and those of the hinder portion of the head bluish, with dusky margins, which cause a scaly appearance. The female lacks the purple and red tints. _C. minuta_, the most diminutive Pigeon known,–though _Oena_ would be smaller but for its tail,–is uniform below. The other species differ but little, though only _C. rufipennis_ has, like the above, the under surface of the wing cinnamon. Flocks of the Ground-Dove or Tortolita, as _C. passerina_ is called, are found amongst open woods and pastures, running about with elevated tails, and feeding chiefly upon the ground on seeds, berries, peas, and grain; if disturbed, they betake themselves with low and noisy flight to a tree; but they are usually very tame, and may often be heard uttering their mournful notes on the roofs of outbuildings. The nest, placed in low bushes or on the ground, is carefully constructed and lined with grass, two or three broods being reared in the season. The hen is said to feign disablement at its nest like a Plover, while the birds apparently dust themselves in gallinaceous fashion. _Columbula picui_, distinguished by a blue band on the wing-coverts, occurs in South America from Bolivia and Chili eastward.

Group (_e_).–The fifth section of the Peristerinae exhibit no metallic spots or lustre, while the wings are rounded and the tail is rather long. _Gymnopelia erythrothorax_, of the mountains of Peru, Bolivia, and North Chili, is brown, with vinaceous head and breast, and remarkably large naked orbits of orange margined with black. _Scardafella_ has crescentic black edges to the feathers, the upper parts being brown and the lower pinky white, while the {341}primaries have cinnamon inner webs. _S. squamosa_, of Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia, has a white wing-patch, absent in _S. inca_, extending from Texas to Nicaragua. These "Scaly Doves," as they are called, seem to be essentially terrestrial. _Geopelia humeralis_, of Australia and Southern New Guinea, is brown above, with black scale-like markings, a rufous nape, a bluish forehead and chest, a pinkish breast, and a white mid-belly. The remiges are rufous on the inner web. _G. cuneata_, of Australia only, has small white wing-spots, and no black marginal markings on the feathers. _G. tranquilla_, of the same country, _G. striata_, ranging from South Tenasserim to the Philippines and the Moluccas–introduced into Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, and St. Helena–and _G. maugei_, found from the Timor group to the Ké Islands, are distinctly banded with black and white, the first round the neck only, the other two on the breast also. These long-tailed species, resembling miniature Turtle-Doves, frequent grassy plains, thickets, or swampy river-sides in small flocks, and flit tamely from tree to tree, alighting with upturned tail; the coo is rarely loud; the food consists of seeds and berries, usually obtained upon the ground; the nest, placed rather low, is of twigs or grass.

Group (_f_).–_Turtur_ contains twenty-eight Old World forms, reaching eastward to Japan, the Ladrones, and the Moluccas. In habits resembling the members of the genus _Columba_, they are browner in coloration, and about three quarters of the size; while some exhibit lateral patches of dark feathers tipped with blue, grey, or white on the neck, the plumage whereof in other species is bifurcated and spotted with rufous or white. Many have a black nuchal collar, and a few somewhat fawn-coloured upper parts; the lower surface is more or less vinaceous, and the rectrices, except the two median, are tipped with white or grey. The following may exemplify the range of this sixth section of the Peristerinae:–_Turtur communis_, the Turtle-Dove of Europe, winters in Northern Africa and Western Asia; _T. douraca_ or _risorius_ (our common cage-bird), extends from Turkey to India and Japan; _T. orientalis_, accidental in Europe, only from India to Japan; _T. tigrinus_ from the Malay countries to the Moluccas; _T. dussumieri_ from Borneo to the Ladrones; _T. semitorquatus_, _T. isabellinus_, and so forth, inhabit Africa; _T. picturatus_ Madagascar, _T. aldabranus_, _T. comorensis_, _T. coppingeri_, _T. abbotti_, and _T. rostratus_ the neighbouring {342}Islands. The African _T. senegalensis_ is found in the Canaries, and several introduced species occur in Madagascar or Mauritius.

Group (_g_).–The seventh section of the Peristerinae is characterized by metallic spots near the ear-coverts and an iridescent gloss on the sides of the neck. _Melopelia leucoptera_, found from Texas to Costa Rica and the West Indies, and the very similar _M. meloda_ of Peru and Chili, have a white wing-patch. One of the notes resembles a cock's crow. _Nesopelia_, of the Galápagos, links these closely to _Zenaida_, with six members, found from the Florida Keys, Yucatan, and the Antilles, through South America to Patagonia. _Z. amabilis_, the Pea- or Mountain-Dove of the islands from the Florida Keys to Antigua, is reddish-olive, with vinous head and breast, two peacock-blue ear-spots, black blotches on the scapulars and wing-coverts, black remiges, and a white band across the secondaries. Chiefly terrestrial, it roosts and nests either on trees or on the ground, the flight being swift, and the note very soft. _Zenaidura carolinensis_, the Mourning-Dove of North America, including Southern Canada, is not unlike the above, but has the crown, sides of the body, and edges of the wings blue, and in the male the breast purplish. Small flocks often frequent the neighbourhood of houses, while the flight is strong, the note guttural and melancholy, the food of grain, berries, acorns, shoots of plants, and apparently worms. The nest is placed indifferently on the earth or aloft.

Sub-fam. 3. _Columbinae._–_Ectopistes migratorius_, the well-known Passenger-Pigeon, breeds in eastern North America, chiefly in Canada and the adjoining United States, and wanders to the Pacific and Cuba. Its immense colonies are seemingly a thing of the past, though as lately as 1888 a northward flight crossed Michigan, where in 1878, at Petosky, the "roost," or area occupied, is said to have been twenty-eight miles long by three or four broad. The trees were often laden with nests, and during a stay of five weeks several millions of birds are stated to have been captured, chiefly by means of nets and decoys; though earlier authors, such as Wilson, mention many different methods of slaughter. The parents were very noisy, and covered vast distances in search of food; but, save for the sharp call-note, and the single egg, the other habits were as in most arboreal Pigeons.

_Coryphoenas crassirostris_, of the Solomon Islands, a slate-coloured species with brownish head and crest, resembles in its {343}very stout bill and long graduated rectrices _Reinwardtoenas reinwardti_, ranging from Celebes to Papuasia, and _R. browni_, of the Duke of York Island and New Britain. In the two last-named the head is grey, the under parts are white, and the naked orbits red, the former having the back chestnut, the latter black. Closely allied are the two dozen Pheasant-like members of _Macropygia_, with elongated wedge-shaped tails, from the Indian and Australian Regions, which have rich chestnut, purplish-brown, or cinnamon plumage, with darker shading and iridescent sheen, chiefly confined to the upper surface. The head is usually lighter, the under parts are often buff or vinaceous, and the irides parti-coloured; the naked orbits vary in tint. Inhabiting bushy country or hills up to about eight thousand feet, they fly but short distances, feeding upon the ground on seeds and berries, and uttering a loud monotonous note. _M. tusalia_, the Cuckoo-Dove, occurs from North India to West China; _M. leptogrammica_ inhabits the Malay Countries; several other species carry the range to the Moluccas; _M. tenuirostris_ occupies the Philippine and Sulu Islands; _M. phasianella_ the eastern half of Australia; _M. doreya_ and so forth New Guinea and its islands; _M. rufa_ the New Hebrides; _M. rufo-castanea_ the Solomons. The two last-named have bifurcated breast-feathers.

_Turacoena menadensis_, of Celebes, the Togian and Sula Islands, is slate-black with golden-green occiput, neck, and breast, white face and throat, and naked red orbits; _T. modesta_, of Timor, has the orbits yellow, and lacks the white. _Turturoena delegorgii_, of Natal, is slaty-black, with a chestnut mantle surmounted by a white band, lilac and green reflexions on the occiput, neck, and chest, vinous under parts, and bare pink orbits. The female is brownish-grey, having a cinnamon head and nape glossed with green, but no white collar. _T. sharpii_, of East Equatorial Africa, differs in its green crown and nuchal region; _T. iriditorques_, found from the Gaboon to Liberia, lacks the white band, and has the lateral rectrices tipped with buff; _Nesoenas mayeri_, of Mauritius, is reddish-brown, with pink head, neck, and lower surface.

The cosmopolitan genus _Columba_ contains nearly sixty members, of which comparatively few inhabit the Palaearctic and Nearctic Regions; the general coloration is blue, relieved by black and rufous, or a metallic red and green sheen. Want of space forbids a description of every form, and the following are in no definite order: but _C. palumbus_, _C. laurivora_, _C. bollii_, _C. trocaz_, {344}_C. leucocephala_, and so forth, are Wood-Pigeons; _C. livia_, _C. schimperi_, _C. affinis_, _C. intermedia_, and _C. leuconota_ are true Rock-Pigeons; _C. oenas_ and its nearest allies being somewhat intermediate. _C. rufina_, extending from Guatemala to Peru and Brazil, and _C. speciosa_, ranging further north to Mexico, are especially ruddy; _C. ianthina_, of Japan and the Liu-Kiu Islands, is unusually metallic; _C. grisea_, of Borneo and Sumatra, is mainly light grey; _C. polleni_, of the Comoro Islands, olive-brown; _C. arquatrix_, of Eastern and South-Western Africa, is flecked with white above and below; _C. speciosa_, only on the hind neck; _C. guinea_, of Western and North-Eastern Africa, has bifurcated neck-feathers and triangular white wing-spots; _C. leucocephala_, of the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Antilles, and Honduras, and _C. leucomela_, of East Australia, have the crown, and the latter the neck and under parts white; _C. leuconota_, the "Snow-Pigeon" of Kashmir, Yarkand, and Tibet, has the neck, lower back, and breast white; _C. palumbus_, our Ring-Dove, Wood-Pigeon, Cushat, or Queest, the habits of which are universally known, extends through the Palaearctic Region from Madeira and the Azores to Persia; it differs from the smaller and darker Stock-Dove (_C. oenas_), of the same Region eastward to Turkestan, by the white patches on the sides of its neck and the white wing-bar. _C. livia_, the Rock-Dove, from which our domestic races have sprung, is easily distinguishable from other British species by the white rump and the two black alar bands. The breeding habits of our native birds, and the damage done by flocks of Wood-Pigeons, partly composed of immigrants, have already been mentioned (p. 328). _Columba laurivora_ and _C. bollii_, which lays but one egg, are peculiar to the Canary Islands; _C. trocaz_ to Madeira, _C. torringtoniae_ to Ceylon, _C. palumboïdes_ to the Andamans and Nicobars, _C. metallica_ to Timor, _C. gymnophthalma_, apparently to Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, and several forms to Samoa, the Liu-Kiu, Bonin, Fiji, and other groups. _C. araucana_ reaches the Straits of Magellan.

_Gymnophaps albertisi_, of New Guinea, is grey, with whitish breast, purplish-chestnut under parts elsewhere, and naked red orbits.

Sub-fam. 4. _Treroninae._–This includes the Fruit-Pigeons in the widest sense, natives of the Old World, of which the bigger are contained in the first eight genera. _Hemiphaga novae zealandiae_, of New Zealand, is green, with brilliant coppery reflexions, brownish-purple back, and white abdomen; _H. spadicea_, of {345}Norfolk Island, and _H. chathamensis_, of the Chatham group, have greyer wing-coverts and green nape. _Lopholaemus antarcticus_, of Eastern Australia, is grey, with a fine rufous crest, black remiges, black rectrices banded with grey, and bare reddish orbits; the neck-feathers being hackled as in _Caloenas_. In _Myristicivora_ the general plumage is white, but _M. bicolor_, of the Malay Archipelago, has black wing-quills and tip to the tail; the similar _M. spilorrhoa_ of Australia and Papuasia, the yellower _M. subflavescens_ of New Ireland, and the blacker-tailed _M. melanura_ of the Moluccas, have black spots near the vent; _M. luctuosa_, of Celebes and the Sula Islands, has the remiges nearly grey.

_Phaenorrhina goliath_, of New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines, is slaty-black, with maroon patches on the wing-coverts and abdomen, black quills, and a broad chestnut tail-bar.

The forty to fifty species of _Carpophaga_ range from India to Hainan and Fiji. _C. concinna_, found in the Moluccas, Tenimber, Ké, and Aru Islands, is metallic bronzy-green with grey head and lower surface; _C. aenea_, extending from India and Ceylon to Hainan and Flores, has more vinaceous lower parts and greener tail; _C. latrans_, of Fiji, is nearly brown above; _C. zoeae_, of Papuasia, has a chestnut mantle and black pectoral band. _C. griseipectus_, of the Philippines, has a grey back with blackish-green spots, and a chestnut lower breast; _C. basilica_, of the Halmahera group, has a pinkish-white head and upper breast, a rufous lower breast, and a broad grey tip to the tail; _C. cuprea_, of Southern India, is brown, with white throat, greyish-pink head, neck, mantle, and under parts; _C. poecilorrhoa_, of North Celebes, is glossy greenish-black above with grey head, mantle, and chest, and brown breast with ochre markings; _C. pinon_, of New Guinea and the Western Papuan Islands, is slaty-grey with a white forehead, a ring of white feathers round the naked red orbits, and a purplish-chestnut lower breast. Large flocks commonly gather after breeding. The seven species of _Globicera_, remarkable for a fleshy knob at the base of the bill, may be represented by _C. pacifica_, ranging from New Guinea to Samoa, and _C. rubricera_, of New Ireland, New Britain, New Hanover, and the Duke of York Island. The former has a grey head, bronzy-green upper parts, bluer remiges and rectrices and pinkish lower surface, the knob being black. The latter has a vinous head, grey mantle, chestnut abdomen, and red knob. {346}_Serresius galeatus_, of the Marquesas Islands, noted for the feathered skin or "saddle" covering half the culmen, is deep glossy green, with dark grey head and under parts. All these Fruit-Pigeons feed and build on lofty trees, and seldom, if ever, descend to the ground–possessing short legs and broad-soled grasping feet; they have a powerful rapid flight and utter varied notes, occasionally deep and booming like a wild beast's roar; they eat vast quantities of fruit, and some are very fond of mice; while they normally lay two eggs, but exceptionally one.

The five splendid species of _Megaloprepia_ occupy the Northern Moluccas, Papuasia, and Eastern Australia. _M. magnifica_ of the latter country has a greenish-grey head and neck, golden-green upper parts with an oblique yellow band on the wing-coverts, rich purple breast and abdomen, and yellow vent. _M. formosa_ of the Halmahera group lacks the yellow on the wings and has, in the male only, a crimson patch on the greenish breast. The other three species are barely separable. The habits resemble those of _Carpophaga_, the note being peculiarly hoarse.

_Alectoroenas_ comprises four remarkable forms from Madagascar and the neighbouring islands, of which _A. nitidissima_ of Mauritius has become extinct within historic times, three specimens being still extant at Port Louis, Paris, and Edinburgh respectively. This species, called "Pigeon hollondais" from its colours, which are those of the Dutch flag, is indigo-blue, with white head and neck, vermilion tail-coverts and tail edged with black, and red carunculated orbits, lores, and forehead. _A. madagascariensis_, of Madagascar and Nossibé Island, has most of the neck slaty-grey, but the head blue, and the tail crimson with a wash of blue and green at the base, while the naked skin only surrounds the eyes. _A. pulcherrima_ of the Seychelles, to which the name of "Pigeon hollondais" has been transferred, has the neck and breast grey, the upper parts, including the tail, black with blue reflexions, the crown crimson, the orbits, lores, and forehead wattled. _A. sganzini_ of the Comoro Islands differs in having a grey head and only the orbits bare. Throughout the genus the long, loosely webbed and bifurcated neck-feathers resemble hackles in appearance. The members are, according to circumstances, tame and stupid, or shy and wary; they are arboreal and fly powerfully, while they feed on dates, figs, berries and grain, the flocks being very destructive to rice-crops. _Drepanoptila holosericea_, of New Caledonia and {347}the Isle of Pines, with its feathered white metatarsi and fork-tipped primaries, is green, with grey wing- and tail-bars, white throat and yellow abdomen, the last being divided from the breast by a yellowish-white and a black band.

Of the smaller Fruit-Pigeons, which differ but little in habits from the larger, the lovely genus _Chrysoenas_ is confined to Fiji. _C. luteovirens_ has an olive-yellow head, and a bright yellow abdomen and collar; the remaining plumage being yellow, more or less tinged with green, especially on the wings and tail. The feathers of the neck and back are narrowly lanceolate and the tail-coverts long. The female is green, with a yellow wash below, and has nearly brown remiges. _C. victor_ is bright orange, with olive-yellow head and throat and browner wing-quills; the coverts almost conceal the tail, but the long decomposed body-feathers are not especially narrow. The female is green, with yellowish head and orange-margined remiges. _C. viridis_ is dark green, with a golden hue on the back and breast, the head being almost yellow, as are the edges of the quills. The female is green, with grey vent-region. The seventy or more brilliantly coloured members of the genus _Ptilopus_ range from the Malay Peninsula to the Marquesas; New Guinea and Polynesia accounting for a large majority. The following are some of the most striking. _P. jambu_ of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Bangka, and Billiton has the front half of the head crimson, the upper parts bright green, the primaries black, margined with bluish-green, the tip of the tail yellowish, and the under parts white, with a purplish-brown streak down the throat, a rosy smear on the breast, and a red-brown anal region. The female has dull purple on the head and a greyish-green breast. The following three species have bifurcated breast-feathers. _P. dupetit-thouarsi_ of the Marquesas has the crown whitish, encircled by a yellowish line, the upper surface green with yellow margins to the wing-quills and tip to the tail, the scapulars and inner secondaries spotted with blue, the under parts yellowish-green, with a cherry-coloured patch surrounded by orange on the breast, the throat and vent pale yellow. _P. swainsoni_ of Eastern Australia, straying to South-East New Guinea, has a rose-lilac forehead and crown with a yellow margin behind, bright green upper parts with yellow edges to the wing-quills and peacock-blue tips to the inner secondaries and scapulars, a yellow tip to the tail, a {348}pale yellow throat, a dull green breast with silvery grey tips to the feathers, and a lilac band dividing this from the orange abdomen. The female is rather brighter green. _P. superbus_ of the Moluccas, Papuasia and North Australia, has a purple cap, rufous-orange nape and sides of the neck, rich green upper surface, with deep blue spots on the scapulars and wings and a patch of the same colour at the bend of the latter, black primaries with yellow margins, a whitish throat, and a purple and grey breast, separated from the white abdomen and green and white vent by a broad violet-black band. The female has green upper parts, with blue spots on the wing-region and one on the occiput, and a grey and green breast. _P. insolitus_ of New Ireland, New Britain, and the Duke of York Island, with its curious orange frontal knob, is green, with grey lesser wing-coverts and inner secondaries, a grey-tipped tail, an orange abdomen, and a yellowish vent-region. _P. aurantiifrons_ of Papuasia has a yellowish-green head with orange forehead; a white throat; grey neck, upper breast, tip of the tail, and spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts; the remaining plumage being chiefly green. _P. nanus_ of the same districts, the smallest of the Sub-family, is bronzy-green with a greyish band on each side of the breast, a yellow vent, and a purple abdominal patch, lacking in the female. _Phabotreron_ is a group of similar species confined to the Philippines. _P. amethystina_ is bronzy-brown with an amethystine nape and lower surface, the cheeks are crossed by a black line over a white one, the throat is reddish, the tip of the tail grey. The lines on the cheeks and a rounded tail are characteristic of the genus.

The remaining members of the Treroninae are of a greenish or yellowish coloration, generally varied with patches or bands of dull purple, red, orange, or lilac–nearly or quite absent in the females, except in _Vinago_, where the sexes are similar. This genus is Ethiopian, while the others reach from India eastward to Japan, Formosa, and the Moluccas. _Osmotreron_ contains a dozen and a half species, of which the following may serve as examples. _O. vernans_, ranging from the Malay countries to Cochin-China, the Philippines, and Celebes, has a greyish head and throat, vinaceous-purple neck, dull green upper parts, yellowish-green lower surface with an orange pectoral patch, rufescent upper and chestnut under tail-coverts; the wing-quills are black with yellow margins to the coverts, and the grey tail exhibits a black {349}subterminal bar on the lateral feathers. The small _O. olax_ of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, has the back maroon, the head and neck grey. _O. pompadora_ of Ceylon has the forehead and throat yellow, the mantle maroon, and the median rectrices green. _O. aromatica_ of Bouru differs in having no yellow forehead, and the bend of the wing blackish.

_Treron nipalensis_ and the very closely allied _T. nasica_ are found from Bengal and Nepal to the Indo-Malay Islands, the Philippines, and Cochin-China; they have grey heads, chestnut mantles, black wings with yellow edges to the coverts and secondaries, cinnamon under tail-coverts, grey lateral rectrices banded with black, and green plumage elsewhere. _Butreron capellii_, of the Malay Peninsula and neighbouring islands, has the head and upper parts greyish-green, the wings nearly as in the last species, the throat and abdomen yellowish-green, the breast orange, and the under tail-coverts chestnut.

_Crocopus_, with its three similar members, extends from India and Ceylon to Cochin-China. _C. chlorigaster_ has a grey head and tail, a yellowish-green neck and under surface, a grey band across the mantle, a yellow alar bar, an olive-green back and rump, a purple patch at the bend of the wing, and rufous and white lower tail-coverts.

Half a dozen species of _Vinago_ range from Senegambia and Abyssinia to Madagascar and Cape Colony. _V. waalia_, found from West to North-East Africa, has a greenish-grey head and neck, olive upper parts, blackish-brown remiges with yellow outer margins, a rich vinous patch on the wing-coverts, a slaty-blue tail, a bright yellow breast, and a buff abdomen. _V. calva_, of the Ethiopian Region northward of Angola and the Zambesi, has a curious bare forehead and frontal swelling, a yellowish-green head, neck, and lower surface, and a grey collar at the base of the hind-neck. _V. crassirostris_ is confined to St. Thomas and Rollas Islands, West Africa; _V. australis_ to Madagascar. _Sphenocercus_, with some eight members, having wedge-shaped tails and a general resemblance in colour, reaches from North India, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, to Japan and Formosa. _S. sphenurus_, of the Himalayas and the Burmese countries, has the head, neck, and under parts greenish-yellow with a rufous tinge, the back purplish- and bluish-green, the rump and wing-coverts olive with a maroon patch on the latter, and the remiges slaty-black with yellow {350}margins. _S. sieboldi_ is peculiar to Japan, _S. sororius_ and _S. formosae_ to Formosa, _S. permagnus_ to the Liu-Kiu Islands.

Comparatively few fossil forms of the Columbidae have been discovered, but _Columba_ occurs in the Lower Miocene of France and in Malta, while _Lithophaps ulnaris_ and _Progura gallinacea_ are recorded from the Queensland Drifts, and _Alectoroenas? rodericana_ is an extinct species from Rodriguez.

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