With characters essentially as in Columbæ (exclusive of those peculiar to Diduncudidæ and Dididæ). Plumage without after-shafts; the feathers with thickened, spongy rhachis loosely inserted in the skin. Head small, completely feathered, excepting sometimes a circumorbital space. Tarsi naked or only feathered a little way above. Tail of twelve feathers, or lengthened, cuneate, and of fourteen. (Hallux not perfectly incumbent in Starnænas.) … Columbidæ.
Analysis of Families of GALLINÆ.
Hind toe lengthened, insistent. Tail-feathers twelve. Sides of head and throat with naked spaces. Color greenish … Cracidæ.
Hind toe shortened, elevated. Tail-feathers usually fourteen or more. No green.
Large. Tarsi, toes, and nasal fossæ naked. Head bare of feathers, sparsely bristly, with wattles and caruncles. A pectoral tuft of bristly feathers. Tarsi usually spurred in the male. Plumage iridescent … Meleagrididæ.
Medium. Tarsi wholly or in great part, sometimes also the toes, and always the nasal fossæ, feathered. Head completely feathered, excepting a definite papillate strip over the eye. Tail-feathers sixteen or more. Sides of neck usually with lengthened feathers, or a naked distensible area, or both. No spurs. Plumage without iridescence … Tetraonidæ.
Small. Tarsi, toes, and nasal fossæ naked. Head completely feathered. No peculiar feathers or tympanum on sides of neck. No spurs. Plumage not iridescent … Perdicidæ.
Analysis of Families of LIMICOLÆ.
Toes not lobate. Tarsi not notably compressed.
Legs extremely long; the tarsus equalling or exceeding the tail, and feet either four-toed and palmate (Recurvirostra), or three-toed and semipalmate (Himantopus); with the bill much longer than the head, very slender, acute, and curved upward … Recurvirostridæ.