AFRICAN.--Large head with pronounced black knot and heavy gray dewlap
under throat. Neck long, back broad and flat, breast full and round,
body large and upright, thighs short and plump. Shanks medium length and
dark orange color. Wings of good size, close fitting. General color
gray. Mature gander twenty pounds, goose eighteen pounds.
EMBDEN.--Color white. Square, compact body. Neck long and massive
appearing, large head. Medium-size orange colored bill. Back slightly
arched, breast round, deep and full. Shanks short, stout, deep, orange
color, thighs strong, wings large, tail short. Eyes bright blue. Mature
gander twenty pounds, goose eighteen pounds.
TOULOUSE.--Blue-gray in color, marked with brown. Head large but short,
bill short and stout, neck medium long, body compact, medium length,
deep, belly almost touching ground, back broad, slightly arched, breast
broad and deep, wings large, strong, close fitting, tail short. Adult
gander twenty pounds, goose eighteen pounds.
WHITE AND BROWN CHINESE.--Bodies plump and round, covered with coat of
soft feathers and fine down. Medium size, mature specimens weighing ten
to fourteen pounds. Long arch necks, with large round knob at base of
beak. Short erect body and carriage.
=Guinea Fowl= (_Numida_) belongs to a genus of African birds in the
pheasant family. The plumage is dark gray, with round spots of white,
generally larger on the back and under surface. Some species are adorned
on the head with a helmet or horny casque, while others have fleshy
wattles on the cheeks and a tuft or top-knot on the crown.
The best known is the common guinea fowl (_N. meleagris_), also
popularly known as “Comeback,” from its cry, with naked head, hard
callous casque, and slate-colored plumage, everywhere speckled with
round white spots of various sizes. The guinea fowl is now common in the
poultry-yards, although it is more adapted to warm than to cold
climates. The eggs are small, and have a thick, strong shell, but are
particularly esteemed. The flesh is somewhat like a pheasant’s, but
rather dry.
=Ostrich= (_Struthio_). A bird which was once included with the
cassowaries, emu, rhea and apteryx in a distinct order, but which is
probably better regarded as forming a separate family. Its nearest
allies appear to be the rheas of South America.
An adult male may reach a height of eight feet, the neck being about
three feet long. The special peculiarity is the reduction of the toes to
two, these corresponding to the third and fourth of the typical foot.
The foot and tarsus are both stout; the head is small, with large eyes,
and short, broad, and depressed beak; the wing and tail feathers are
large and soft, and have broad, equal vanes; while the long neck is
practically naked. The feathers are without an aftershaft.
The true ostrich is a native of Africa. All are flightless birds, and as
the wing muscles are reduced there is no keel on the breastbone. The
African ostrich has but two toes, the others three. The rheas and the
emus may be dismissed with mere mention, the rheas furnishing the
feathers used in feather dusters. The African ostriches furnish the
well-known plumes and are bred for the purpose, the export of feathers
from South Africa amounting to over five million dollars a year. There
are now ostrich farms in South America, California, Arizona and Florida.
The eggs are laid in the sand and in nature are incubated by the heat of
the sun. The plumes are cut (not pulled out) once a year.
=Parrot= (_Psittacus erithacus_) is a type of an important group of
birds, divided into numerous families including the love-birds, macaws,
cockatoos and porakeets. They are preeminently tropical birds, and
arboreal in habit; some species, however, range into colder
countries--_e. g._, Patagonia and New Zealand--and some, such as the
burrowing ground parrot of New Zealand, are not arboreal. They are fruit
and seed eating birds, with the exception of the kea, of New Zealand,
which has taken to a carnivorous diet.
As a rule, the parrots are brightly colored birds, being often, like
other forest-frequenting creatures, green; there are some species,
however, which are not brilliantly colored. There is occasionally a
difference of color in the two sexes, which is best marked in species
belonging to the genus _Eclectus_; in these the prevailing color of the
female is red, and of the male green.
Their power of imitating human speech is very remarkable, and equalled
by no other animal. The great age to which parrots will live has often
been exaggerated, but it is at any rate certain that some species will
survive for fifty years in confinement. They are highly regarded by
natives of central America as household pets, where they are also used
for food and the feathers for ornaments. The best talking birds lack the
brilliancy of plumage possessed by many other parrots. Their chief use
among civilized peoples is as an ornamental bird and household pet.
=Peacock= (_Pavo_) is allied to pheasants and other game-birds, and
includes at least two species--the Indian and Singhalese (_P.
cristatus_), and the Malayan (_P. muticus_), inhabiting Java,
Borneo, and similar regions. The birds roost in trees, and eat
omnivorously--worms, insects, small snakes, seeds, etc. At the pairing
season rival males display the well-known beauty of their tail-coverts
before their desired mates, and strut about after the fashion of many
game-birds. The usual cry is a shrill “p-a-o” and strange noises are
made by rattling the quills. The females lay, according to the climatic
conditions, from April to October; the eggs, of a brownish color, are
numerous (eight to ten), and are laid without a nest in some concealed
spot. At first both sexes are alike in plumage, but after a year or so
the males gradually acquire their gorgeous feathers, which are perfected
about the third year. The Javan peafowl is said to be even handsomer
than the familiar species. The flesh and eggs are of good quality though
inferior to the domestic fowl, though they are still extensively bred in
southeastern Asia for food. The range of the peacock in domestication
has been greatly extended in modern times, but its use is restricted to
ornamental purposes. The splendor of its plumage is unequaled by any
other large bird.
=Pigeon= (_Columba livia_), including some three hundred species, is
distributed in nearly all parts of the world. Most of the domesticated
varieties are derived from the rock dove. The mountain witch of Jamaica
is one of the most beautiful of birds. The largest member of the group
was the dodo, a native of the islands in the Indian ocean, which became
extinct before 1700, partly because it lacked the power of flight. It
was somewhat larger than a turkey, with the same external appearance.
In America, as in Europe there are enormous numbers of breeders who
devote themselves to what are known as “fancy pigeons,” by which term
are meant those bred for their special points or characteristics. Of
these there is a great and ever-increasing variety, many of which have
several distinct colors.
The most important of the domestic pigeons are the common pigeon, the
trumpeter, the ruff pigeon, the Jacobin, the Turkish pigeon, the carrier
pigeon, which, on account of its great power of remembering localities,
is used for carrying messages; the pouter, the tumbler, the turbit, the
fantail, and the oriental pigeon. The young pigeons are highly esteemed
for their delicate flavor.
The TURTLE DOVE (_Turtur auritus_) is frequently kept in captivity, as
it is the smallest and prettiest of all the family of pigeons.
=Swans= (_Cygnus_) are swimming birds, closely related to the ducks and
geese, with long and slender neck, bill about as long as the head, and
with a soft cere. Nine species are known. The American swan (_C.
americanus_) breeds in the northern parts of North America, but its
winter migrations extend only to North Carolina. The trumpeter swan (_C.
buccinator_) is another American species, breeding chiefly within the
Arctic Circle, but of which large flocks may be seen in winter as far
south as Texas. Australia produces a black swan (_C. atratus_),
discovered towards the end of the eighteenth century, rather smaller
than the common swan, the plumage deep black, except the primaries of
the wings, which are white. The eye is red. The black-necked swan (_C.
nigricollis_), perhaps the handsomest bird of the genus, is a South
American species, ranging from Chile to the Faulkland Islands.
=Turkey= (_Meleagris gallipavo_) or common turkey, is a native of North
America, where it exists in two forms. The typical form ranges from
southern Canada to Florida and eastern Texas, and westward to the edge
of the great Plains; farther south, it is replaced by another form (_M.
mexicana_), having the tail and its coverts tipped with buffy white, and
inhabiting the tablelands of Mexico, and extending north to the southern
border of the United States, and south to Vera Cruz. The finest tame
turkeys are those of the American bronze breed, which has been created
by crossing.
It is our largest domestic fowl, and much prized for food, though
neither its eggs nor feathers are used to an important extent.
Notwithstanding it is a stupid bird, ranking low in intelligence, the
turkey is easily domesticated and the tame birds readily intermingle
with the wild ones. While it needs considerable range and is inclined to
wander, and therefore is not suited to small farms, it is comparatively
easy to rear and stands second to the chicken in the United States,
ranking above geese and ducks both in number and value. Texas reports
the largest number, and is followed in order by Missouri, Illinois, Iowa
and Ohio.