GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.
The birds of this order have their denomination from their affinity to the domestic cock. Their anterior toes are generally united at their base by a short membrane, and denticulated along their margin, the upper mandible arched, the nostrils pierced in a broad membranaceous 'space at the base of the bill, and invested with a cartilagi nous scale. They have a heavy gait, short wings, a bony sternum, diminished by two notches, so broad and deep that they occupy almost all its sides, its ridge obliquely trun cated forwards, so that the sharp point of the fork is unit ed 'to it only by a ligament ; circumstances which, by greatly weakening the pectoral muscles, render their flight laborious. The more ordinary number of their tail fea thers is fourteen, butit varies from that to eighteen. From the simple structure of their larynx, their note is seldom agreeable. They have a very wide crop, and a very vi gorous gizzard. Most of the species lay and hatch their eggs on the ground, on bits of straw, or herbage careless ly put together. Each male has usually several females, and takes no share in preparing the nest, or rearing the young, which arc for the most part numerous, and capable of running as soon as they issue from the shell. The fe male calls them together by a particular cry, for feeding, and guides and protects them till they moult. in most species the males are furnished with spurs on their legs. Most of them walk and parade gracefully, and run nimbly, but they fly with difficulty and a whirring noise. Though they chiefly subsist on the seeds of plants, they likewise eat insects, grubs, and worms, which are macerated in their crop. It should seem that their gastric juice will not dissolve entire grains ; for those of barley, for exam ple, inclosed in tubes, or perforated spherules, are not af fected by its action ; but if the sante grains be by any means broken, or ground, they are speedily dissolved. The food undergoes previous trituration in the gizzard, a very strong muscular viscus, whose internal coat is hard and cartilaginous. As this, however, is not the sort of animal substance suited to the reception of glands, or to secre tions, the gastric juice in this family is not supplied by the stomach itself, but by the gullet, in which the feeding glands are placed, and from which it trickles down into the stomach. From this peculiarity of economy Spallan zani appears to have been struck with the resemblance be tween the stomachs of gallinaceous fowls and the struc ture of a corn mill ; for while the two sides of the gizzard perform the office of the mill-stones, the crow, or crop, may be compared to the hopper. When our domestic
fowls are abundantly furnished with food, they quickly fill their crop ; but its contents do not immediately pass into the gizzard ; and, at all times, they enter in very small quantities in proportion to the progress of trituration.
•Most of the species appertaining to this order are easily tamed, and are useful to mankind, on account of their flesh, their eggs, and their feathers.
PAY°, Lin. &C. PEACOCK.
Bill naked at the base, convex above, thickened, bent down towards the tip ; nostrils open, cheeks partially de nuded, feathers of the rump elongated, broad, capable of being expanded like a fan, and ocellated ; tail wedge shaped, consisting of eighteen feathers ; feet furnished with four toes; the tarsi with a conical spur ; the head crested.
• I'. cristatus,Lin. &c. Crested, or Common Peacock. Crest compressed, body of the male golden green, glossed with brassy reflexions above, the wing-coverts green gold, with blue and brassy reflexions, the under parts of the body dusky, varied with green gold ; the head with two white stripes on each side, the upper tail coverts very long, and adorned with various colourings, and auriferous eyes or arches. To recite the numerous and beautiful details of the markings of this splendid bird would re quire a long description, which, after all, would convey but a faint idea of the original. There are, however, we presume, few of our readers who are not sufficiently fa miliar with the rich and gaudy attire of the living speci men, to dispense with a minute enumeration of its daz zling and changeable hues. Like other domesticated birds, it exhibits several varieties. Thus, some have the wings transversely striated, some have the wings, cheeks, throat, upper parts of the belly, and wing-coverts, white, and others have the body entirely white, the eyes of the train being merely traceable by a different undulation of shade on the pure white of the tail. It is somewhat ex traordinary, that this variety occurs in Norway unreclaim cd, and migrates into Germany in Winter. The ordinary length of the peacock, from the tip of the bill to that of the full grown tail, is about four feet. The female is rather Jess, and her train is not only very short, but destitute of those resplendent beauties which ornament the male ; her crest too is shorter, and her whole plumage partakes of a sober cinereous hue; her throat and neck are green, and the spots on the side of the head are larger than those of the male. The females of this species, however, like those of the pheasant, and of some other birds, have some times been known, when past breeding, to assume the male attire.