The grouse, quail, pheasants, turkeys, etc. (Gallinæ).—The Gallinæ include most of the domestic fowls, as the hen, turkey, peacock, guinea-fowls, and pheasants, and the grouse, quail, partridges, and wild turkeys. The chief game-birds of most countries belong to this order. They have the bill short, heavy, convex, and bony, adapted for picking up and crushing seeds and grains which compose their principal food. Their legs are strong and usually not long, and are often feathered very low down. The Gallinæ are mostly terrestrial in habit and are sometimes known as the Rasores or "scratchers." Among the more familiar wild gallinaceous birds are the quail or "Bob white" (Colinus virginianus), abundant in eastern and central United States, the ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) of the Eastern woods, and the prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus americanus) of the Western prairies. The sage-hen (Centrocercus urophasianus), the largest of the American grouse, reaching a length of two and one-half feet, is an interesting inhabitant of the sterile sagebrush plains of the West. The ptarmigan (Lagopus) or snow-grouse, represented by several species, are found either among the rocks and snow-banks above timber line on high mountains, or in the Arctic regions. In summer their plumage is brown and white; in winter they turn pure white to harmonize with the uniform snow-covering. On the Pacific coast are several species of quail, all differing much from those of the East. These Western species have beautiful crests of a few or several long plume-feathers, the body-plumage being also unusually beautiful. The eggs of all the Gallinæ are numerous and are laid in a rude nest or simply in a depression on the ground. In many of the species polygamy is the rule. The young are precocial.

The doves and pigeons (Columbæ).—The doves and pigeons constitute a small order, the Columbæ, closely related to the Gallinæ. A distinguishing characteristic of the Columbæ lies in the bill, which is covered at the base with a soft swollen membrane or cere in which the nostrils open. The members of this order feed on fruits, seeds, and grains. Our most familiar wild species is the mourning-dove or turtle-dove (Zenaidura macroura) found abundantly all over the country. It lays two eggs in a loose slight nest in a low tree or on the ground. The beautiful wild or passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was once extremely abundant in this country, moving about in tremendous flocks in the Eastern and Central States. But it has been so relentlessly hunted that the species is apparently becoming extinct. In the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains is a rather large dove, the band-tailed pigeon (Columba fasciata), which subsists chiefly on acorns. The domestic pigeon represented by numerous varieties, pouters, carriers, ruff-necks, fan-tails, etc., is the artificially selected descendant of the rock-dove (Columba livia). The young of all pigeons are altricial.

Fig. 138.—Screech-owl, Megascops asio. (Photograph by A. L. Princeton permission of Macmillan Co.)

The eagles, owls, and vultures (Raptores).—The "birds of prey" compose one of the larger orders, the members of which are readily recognizable. In all the bill is heavy, powerful, and strongly hooked at the tip. The feet are strong, with long, curved claws (small in the vultures) and are fitted for seizing and holding living prey, such as smaller birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals which constitute the principal food of the true raptorial species. The vultures feed on carrion. The turkey buzzard (Cathartes aura) is the most familiar of the three species of carrion-feeding Raptores found in the United States. The buzzard nests on the ground or in hollow stumps or logs, and lays two white eggs (sometimes only one) blotched with brown and purplish. The largest North American vulture is the California condor (Pseudogryphus californianus), which attains a length of four and one-half feet, with a spread of wing of nine and one-half feet. Of the eagles, the most widespread and commonest is the bald eagle (Haliætus leucocephalus). It is three feet long and when adult has the head and neck white. The golden eagle (Aquila chrysætos) has the neck and head tawny brown. Of the many species of hawks, the marsh harrier (Circus hudsonius), abundant all over the country and readily known by its white rump, is one of the most familiar. The name "chicken-hawk" is given to two or three different species of large broad-winged hawks of the genus Buteo. The stout little sparrow-hawk (Falco sparverius), common over the whole country, is familiar and readily recognizable by its pronounced bluish and black wings and black-and-white banded chestnut tail. Altogether fifty species of hawks and eagles are found in this country. Of the owls, the barn-owl (Strix pratincola) with its long triangular face and handsome mottled and spotted tawny coat is more or less familiar; the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), the snowy owl (Nyctea nyctea), and the great gray owl (Scotiaptex cinerea) are the common large species, while the red screech-owl (Megascops asio) (fig. [138]), the most abundant owl in the country, and the strange burrowing owl (Speotyto cunicularia), which lives in the holes of prairie-dogs and ground-squirrels in the West, are familiar smaller ones. Thirty-two species of owls are recorded from North America.

The parrots (Psittaci).—The parrots, of which only one species is native in the United States, constitute an interesting order of birds, the Psittaci. They are abundant in tropical America. They have a very thick strongly hooked bill, with a thick and fleshy tongue. The feet have two toes pointing forward and two backward. The plumage is usually brightly and gaudily colored. The natural voice is harsh and discordant, but many of the species can imitate with surprising cleverness the speech of man. Parrots are long-lived and usually docile, and are much kept as pets. The single native species, the Carolina paroquet (Conurus carolinensis), is about a foot in length, is green, with yellow head and neck and orange-red face. Its range once extended from the Gulf of Mexico north to the Great Lakes, but it has been nearly exterminated in all the States but Florida.

The cuckoos and kingfishers (Coccyges).—The cuckoos and kingfishers are regarded as constituting an order, Coccyges, a small group whose members are without any definite bond of union. Only ten species of North American birds belong to this order. The yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos (Coccyzus) or "rain-crows" are long-tailed, slender, lustrous drab birds, which lay their eggs in the nests of others. They are notable for their peculiar rolling call. On the plains and hills of California and the southwest lives the road-runner or chaparral cock (Geococcyx californianus), a strange bird belonging to the cuckoo family. It is nearly two feet long, of which length the tail makes half. These birds run so rapidly that a horse is little more than able to keep up with them. They feed on fruits, various reptiles, insects, etc. The one common kingfisher of this country, the belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon), a thick-set, heavy-billed, ashy blue-and-white bird, is familiar along streams. As it flies swiftly along it gives its rattling cry. It nests in deep holes in the stream-banks, and lays six or eight crystal-white spheroidal eggs.

The woodpeckers (Pici).—The familiar woodpeckers and sap-suckers compose a well-defined order, Pici, which is represented in North America by twenty-five species. The bill of the woodpecker is stout and strong, usually straight, fitted for driving or boring into wood; the tongue is long, sharp-pointed, and barbed, fitted for spearing insects. The feet have two toes turned forward and two backward; the tail-feathers are stiff and sharp-pointed and help support the bird as it clings to the vertical side of a tree-trunk or branch (fig. [139]). The food of most woodpeckers consists chiefly of insects, usually wood-boring larvæ (grubs). These birds do much good by destroying many noxious insect pests of trees. A few species, the true sap-suckers, probably feed on the sap of trees. Their nests are made in holes in trees, and the eggs are pure white and rounded. The harsh and shrill cries of the woodpeckers are familiar to all.