ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
(Order Gallijormes)
The Galliformes, or Fowl-like birds, constitute a large, practically cosmopolitan group of fairly well-marked birds, having the palate schizognathous instead of dromseognathous, the head of the quadrate bone double instead of single, the basal ends of the coracoids united and crossed instead of separated, and the bill vaulted and more or less decurved.
They have large functional caeca, and a large crop, while the oil-gland is generally tufted, though it is nude in the Megapodes and absent altogether in certain Pheasants, such as Argusianus.
The Order Galliformes is divided into four suborders: the Mescenatides with the single family Mesoenatidce for the anamolous Madagascar Mesite; the Tur-nices, which embraces the families Turnicidce, or Hemipodes, and the Pediono-ntida, or Collared Hemipodes; the Galli, which includes three families, the Megapodidm, or Megapodes, the Cracida, or Curassows, and Guans, and the Phasianidcz, or Turkeys, Partridges, Quails, Pheasants, etc.; and, finally, the Opisthocomi, which includes only the South American Hoactzin, though the last is usually, and perhaps with good reason, separated as a distinct order.
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