File:Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of (14564741828).jpg

Identifier: keytonorthameric00coue (find matches)
Title: Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and lower California, with which are incorporated General ornithology: an outline of the structure and classification of birds; and Field ornithology, a manual of collecting, preparing, and preserving birds
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899
Subjects: Birds -- North America Birds -- Collection and preservation
Publisher: Boston, Estes and Lauriat
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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rouse, theGuinea-fowl, the Tur-key, and the domesticCock. The two formerare very close to eachother, and hardly sepa-rable as families; thethree latter are nearerone another, and oftenplaced together in a fam-ily. The families Tet-raonidce, Grouse, Quail,and Partridges; and Me-leagrididce, Turkeys, areindigenous to N. Am.,and fully treated beyond.A word on the others willnot be misplaced here. The Guinea-fowL Nu-mididce, of which a spe-cies, Numida meleagris,Fig. 394. —English Pheasant, Phasianus colchvcus (From Dixon ) .^ commonly seen in do- mestication, are an African and Madagascau type. While the foregoing families are stronglyspecialized, this one, like the turkey family, more closely approaches the true fowl, andboth may be only subfamilies of Phasianidce. The bones of the pinion have a certainpeculiarity; the frontal generally develops a protuberance; there are wattles, but no spurs ; thetail is very short; the head naked. There are six or eight species of Numida, in some of
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PHASIANID^: PHEASANTS. 575 which the trachea is convoluted in an appendage to the furculuin ; Acryllium vultitrina, Agelas-tes mekagrides, and Phasidus niger, are the remaining ones. The Phasianidce, or Pheasants, are a inagniticent family of typical Galling, of which thedomestic fowl is a characteristic example. The feet, nasal fossfe, and usually a part, if not thewhole, of the head, are naked, and often combed, horned, or wattled. The tarsi commonlydevelop spurs. The tail, with or without its coverts, sometimes has an extraordinary develop-ment or a remarkable shape (p. 118). There are fifty or sixty species, distributed in numerousmodern genera, abouttwelve of which arewell marked; theyare all indigenous toAsia and neighbor-ing islands, focusingin India. In thePeacock, Pavo cris-tatus, the tail-covertsform a superb train,capable of erectioninto a disk, the mostgorgeous object inornithology; in anallied genus, Poly-plectron, there are apair of spurs on eachleg. The ArgusPheasant, A

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