PRNITH { 4 QL { 681 . UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM R56 i BuLtetin 50 v.10 ? THE BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA commenced by the late ROBERT RIDGWAY continued by HERBERT FRIEDMANN SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON DG DATE DUE GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. CORNELL LAB of ORNITHOLOGY LIBRARY AT SAPSUCKER WOODS SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BuLvetin 50 ——— iii THE BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOG OF THE HIGHER GROUPS, GENERA, SPECIES, AND SUBSPECIES OF BIRDS KNOWN TO OCCUR IN NORTH AMERICA, FROM THE ARCTIC LANDS TO THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA, THE WEST INDIES AND OTHER ISLANDS OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA, AND THE GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO commenced by the late ROBERT RIDGWAY continued by HERBERT FRIEDMANN Part X Family Cracidae—The Curassows, Guans, and Chachalacas Family Tetraonidae—The Grouse, Ptarmigan, etc. Family Phasianidae—The American Quails, Partridges, and Pheasants Family Numididae—The Guineafowls Family Meleagrididae—The Turkeys UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1946 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $1.25 Qe, Gt L%\ RSb v.10 PREFACE The families of birds included in the present and preceding volumes of this work are as follows: Part I, issued October 24, 1901, included the Fringillidae (finches) alone. Part II, issued October 16, 1902, included the Tanagridae (tanagers), Icteridae (troupials), Coerebidae (honeycreepers), and Mniotiltidae (wood warblers). Part III, issued December 31, 1904, included the Motacillidae (wag- tails and pipits), Hirundinidae (swallows), Ampelidae (waxwings), Ptilogonatidae (silky flycatchers), Dulidae (palm chats), Vireonidae (vir- eos), Laniidae (shrikes), Corvidae (crows and jays), Paridae (tit- mice), Sittidae (nuthatches), Certhiidae (creepers), Troglodytidae (wrens), Cinclidae (dippers), Chamaeidae (wrentits), and Sylviidae (warblers). Part IV, issued July 1, 1907, contained the remaining groups of Os- cines, namely, the Turdidae (thrushes), Zeledoniidae (wren-thrushes), Mimidae (mockingbirds), Sturnidae (starlings), Ploceidae (weaver- birds), and Alaudidae (larks), together with the haploophone or oligo- myodian Mesomyodi, comprising Oxyruncidae (sharpbills), Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers), Pipridae (manakins), and Cotingidae (chatterers). Part V, issued November 29, 1911, included the tracheophone Meso- myodi, represented by the Pteroptochidae (tapaculos), Formicariidae (antbirds), Furnariidae (ovenbirds), and Dendrocolaptidae (woodhew- ers) ; the Macrochires, containing the Trochilidae (hummingbirds) and Micropodidae (swifts) ; and the Heterodactylae, represented only by the Trogonidae (trogons). Part VI, issued April 8, 1914, contained the Picariae, comprising the families Picidae (woodpeckers), Capitonidae (barbets), Ramphastidae (toucans), Bucconidae (puftbirds), and Galbulidae (jacamars) ; the Ani- sodactylae, with the families Alcedinidae (kingfishers), Todidae (todies), and Momotidae (motmots) ; the Nycticoraciae, with the families Caprimul- gidae (goatsuckers) and Nyctibiidae (potoos) ; and the Striges, consisting of the families Tytonidae (barn owls) and Bubonidae (eared owls). Part VII, issued May 5, 1916, contained the Coccygiformes (cuckoolike birds), Psittaciformes (parrots), and Columbiformes (pigeons). Part VIII, issued June 26, 1919, contained the Charadriiformes (plover- like birds) with the families Jacanidae (jacanas), Oedicnemidae (thick- knees), Haematopodidae (oystercatchers), Arenariidae (turnstones), Aphrizidae (surfbirds), Charadriidae (plovers), Scolopacidae (snipes, sandpipers, etc.), Phalaropodidae (phalaropes), Recurvirostridae (avo- III Iv BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM cets and stilts), Rynchopidae (skimmers), Sternidae (terns), Laridae (gulls), Stercorariidae (skuas and jaegers), and Alcidae (auks). Part IX, issued October 2, 1941, contained the Gruiformes with the families Gruidae (cranes), Rallidae (rails, gallinules, and coots), Helior- nithidae (sun-grebes), and Eurypygidae (sun-bitterns). Part X (the present part) contains the Galliformes, with the families Cracidae (curassows, guans, and chachalacas), Tetraonidae (grouse and ptarmigan), Phasianidae (American quails, partridges, and pheasants), Numididae (guineafowl), and Meleagrididae (turkeys). Part XI, now ready for press, will contain the Falconiformes, with the families Cathartidae (New World vultures), Accipitridae (hawks, kites, buzzards, eagles, and harriers), Pandionidae (ospreys), and Falconidae (falcons, caracaras, and laughing falcons). Part XII, now in course of preparation, will contain the Anseriformes (ducks, geese, and swans) ; the Ciconiiformes, with the families Ardeidae (herons, bitterns, etc.), Cochleariidae (boatbills), Ciconiidae (storks and wood ibises), Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills), and Phoenicop- teridae (flamingoes) ; the Pelecaniformes, with the families Phaethonti- dae (tropicbirds), Pelecanidae (pelicans), Sulidae (boobies and gan- nets), Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants), and Fregatidae (man-o-war- birds); the Procellariiformes, with the families Diomedeidae (alba- trosses), Procellariidae (shearwaters and petrels), and Hydrobatidae (stormy petrels) ; the Colymbiformes (grebes) ; the Gaviiformes (loons) ; the Sphenisciformes (penguins) ; and the Tinamiformes (tinamous). In the ten volumes thus far published there have been treated in detail (that is, with full descriptions and synonymies), besides the families above mentioned and higher groups to which they belong, 695 genera and 2,756 species and subspecies, besides 237 extralimital genera and 638 extralim- ital species and subspecies whose principal characters are given in the keys and whose principal synonymy is given in footnotes. For the privilege of examining, or for the loan of, specimens needed in the preparation of the present volume acknowledgments are due to the authorities of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; the American Museum of Natural History, New ‘York; Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; Chicago Natural History Museum; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge; National Museum of Canada, Ottawa; Royal On- tario Museum of Zoology, Toronto; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley; University of Michigan Museum, Ann Arbor; Cornell Uni- versity Museum, Ithaca; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena; Princeton University Mu- seum; U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D. C.; Museum of Birds and Mammals, University of Kansas, Lawrence; British Museum (Natural History), London; Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Na- turhistorisches Museum, Vienna; Natural History Museum, Leyden; PREFACE v Robert T. Moore, Pasadena, and the late J. H. Fleming, Toronto. The total number of specimens thereby made available for study in the present connection is hard to estimate but runs into many thousands. As in Part IX, the author has made extensive use of the manuscript notes left by the late Robert Ridgway. His notes covered the diagnoses of genera and higher groups and partial synonymies for many of the species and subspecies. Wherever possible his manuscript has been in- cluded with the minimum of change (other than addition to synonymies) permitted by more recent data. In fact, it has been, and still is, the present author’s feeling that this work should be as largely Ridgway’s as possible ; thus, for instance, he has kept and included Ridgway’s diagnoses of certain genera now relegated to the position of subgenera, and where Ridgway’s manuscript gave extensive synonymies for extralimital forms, he has retained them without attempting to supply equally detailed accounts for other extralimital forms. However, all such manuscript material has been thoroughly studied with the specimens and the litera- ture; nothing has been accepted merely because it was written. From the start, the author has felt himself responsible for the entire contents of this volume and has not considered himself as an editor of an unpublished work. Measurements of specimens for use in the preparation were made by the author and by A. L. O’Leary, Dr. E. M. Hasbrouck, and J. S. Webb under the author’s supervision. Maj. Allan Brooks contributed (before the present author began this work) a series of notes on the colors of the unfeathered parts of many of the species discussed herein. The outline drawings of generic details, except those previously published, were made partly by E. R. Kalmbach, and partly, under the author’s supervision, by Mrs. Aime Awl, of the United States National Museum staff. HERBERT FRIEDMANN. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www. archive.org/details/cu31924090256920 CONTENTS Order GALLIFORMES: Fowllike birds........... 00sec eect ee cee eee e ene Key to the suborders and superfamilies of Galliformes...........--... Suborder GALLI: Megapodes, Curassows, Grouse, Pheasants.......... Superfamily CrAcomEA: Pigeon-footed Galli......... cee ee eee eee eee Key to the families of Cracoidea..........c cece eee eee ee renee Family Cracidae: Curassows, guans, and chachalacas............+ Key to the genera of Cracidae.......... ec cece ese ece rete eens Genus: Grax Linnaeus: < [Gallinacei] Nupidedes Vierttot, Analyse, 1816, 50 (excludes Tetraonidae; in- cludes Crypturi). Giratores ou Gallinacées BLAINVILLE, Journ. Phys., Ixxxiii, 1816, 252 (sub- order I. Brevicaudes; II. Longicaudes). Gradatores ou Gallinacés BLarnvitte, Bull. Soc. Phil., 1816, 110 (I. Longi- caudes; II. Brevicaudes). Alectoromorphe Hux tey, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, 459 (includes Hemi- podii and Pterocletes). >Rasores Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 317 (includes Pterocletes, Hemipodii, and Opisthocomi). ==Rasores REICHENOw, Vog. Zool. Gart., 1882; Die Vogel, i, 1913, 270. >Galliformes Gapow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 33 (includes Mesoenatidae, Hemi- podii).—K Now tton, Birds of the World, 1909, 49, 263 (includes Mesoena- tidae and Hemipodii). ==Gallidae Ftrprincer, Bijd. Dierkunde, ii, 1888 (Unters. Morph. Syst. Vég.), 1567. Kolobathrornithes BortticHer, Verh. Orn. Ges. Bay., xvii, 1927, 190 (includes rails, cranes, bustards, gallinaceous birds, shorebirds, pratincoles, gulls, and terns). 2 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Schizognathous, holorhinal, terrestrial, or arboreal rasorial birds with sternum usually deeply 4-notched or cleft (2-notched in Opisthocomi) ; 16-19 cervical vertebrae (19 in Opisthocomi, 16 in all the rest) ; cora- coids without a subclavicular process and with basal ends overlapping or crossed ; quadrate bone double ; intestinal convolutions of type V (plagio- coelous) ; bill relatively short, with maxilla vaulted, its tip overhanging that of the mandible, vaulted, not compressed, and with hallux always present. Nares holorhinal, impervious; palatines without internal lamina; max- illopalatines not coalesced with one another or with the vomer!; quadrate bone double; basipterygoid processes absent but represented by sessile facets on anterior part of sphenoidal rostrum; rhamphotheca simple; angle of mandible produced and recurved. Cervical vertebrae, 16; an- kylosed sacral vertebrae preceded by a free vertebra, this by four anky- losed dorsal vertebrae, the latter heterocoelous ; coracoids with or without (Opisthocomi) a subclavicular process and with basal ends overlapping or crossed; furcula with median process (hypocleidium) much developed. Metasternum with four deep notches or clefts (Galli), or two notches (Opisthocomi), in the former case the median xiphoid process very long and narrow, the internal processes much shorter, the external processes shorter still and bent outward over posterior ribs, their extremities ex- panded; spina communis sterni and processus obliquus present, large; episternal process perforated to receive a process from base of coracoids; muscle formula usually ABXY-+ (the femorocaudal muscle absent in Pavo and Meleagris, very slender in Cracidae) ; expansor secundariorum pres- ent, but in Tetrao, Francolinus (except F. clapperioni), Rollulus, Euplo- comus, Gallus, Ceriornis, and Pavo, instead of being inserted into the scapulosternal fibrous head, after blending more or less with the axillary margin of the teres, it ceases by becoming fixed to a fibrous intersection about one-third way down the coracobrachialis brevis muscle; biceps slip usually present (absent in Ortalis araucuan, Crax, Mitua, Talegallus, and Numida, but present in Megapodius and Megacephalon) ; tensor patagii brevis with a thin, wide, diffused tendon (as in Crypturi) ; ectepicondylo- ulnaris muscle present (as in Crypturi) ; anconeus with humeral head not always present; gluteus primus present, large; gluteus V present (ten- dinous in Chrysolophus pictus) ; intrinsic syringeal muscles absent; deep plantar tendons of type I (if reaching the hallux proceeding from flexor longus hallucis, not from flexor perforans digitorum). Intestinal convo- lutions of type V (plagiocoelous) ; crop present, globular; stomach usu- ally a gizzard (Centrocercus the only known exception) ; gall bladder present; caeca large; oil gland usually tufted (nude in Megapodii, absent 2In some Cracidae, however, the maxillopalatines are said to be united medially into an ossified septum. BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 3 in Argus). Aftershafts present; neck without lateral apteria; adult downs on pterylae only; wing eutaxic (quintocubital) in Galli and Cra- cidae, diastataxic (aquintocubital) in Megapodii; primaries, 10; rectrices, 10 or, usually, more. Nest usually on the ground; eggs numerous (ex- cept in Cracidae), variable in form and coloration. Young ptilopaedic and nidifugous (those of the Megapodii highly so, being able to fly and care for themselves soon after hatching). The following additional external characters may be mentioned: Bill short (usually much shorter than head), generally rather stout, the culmen regularly and rather strongly decurved, the maxilla depressed rather than compressed (except in some Cracidae), its obtuse vaulted tip overhanging the tip of the mandible; maxillary tomium never dentate or serrate, the mandibular tomium dentate only in Odontophorinae; nasal fossae naked (except in Tetraonidae and some Cracidae), the horizontal or longitudinal nostril overhung by a corneous operculum. Frontal feath- ers (if present) parted by the backward extension of the culmen. Tibiae always feathered, frequently the tarsi also (at least in part) ; sometimes (in genus Lagopus) the toes also; the tarsi, if unfeathered, usually trans- versely scutellate in front, frequently provided with one or more spurs behind; hallux always present, but varying in relative size and position; anterior toes usually webbed between the basal phalanges; claws obtuse, slightly curved. Wing strong but relatively short, much rounded, and very concave beneath. Tail excessively variable in shape and develop- ment, the rectrices varying from 8 to 32 in number. The Galliformes are nearly cosmopolitan in their distribution, only Polynesia, New Zealand, and the Antarctic regions being without repre- sentatives of the order.2 They are much more numerous in the Northern Hemisphere, to which the typical suborder, Galli, is mostly confined, these being far better represented in the Old World than in America, the large and varied family Phasianidae having its focus in temperate and subtrop- ical Asia. The aberrant superfamily Cracoidea is chiefly confined to the Southern Hemisphere, the Megapodidae to the Australian Region, the Cracidae tu the Neotropical Region. One family of Phasianoidea is peculiar to America, this being the Meleagrididae. One phasianoid family (Numididae) is restricted to Africa, another (Tetraonidae) is common to the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions, while the remaining and much more numerous and varied one (Phasianidae) has the widest range of all, every portion of Europe and Asia (except the far Arctic parts), besides portions of the Indo-Malayan and Nearctic Regions, possessing represen- tatives (represented in America not by true pheasants, but only by quail). ? They are, however, also lacking in certain areas within regions the greater part of which is inhabited by them; for example, the greater part of the West Indies, and the Revillagigedo and Galapagos island groups. New Zealand formerly possessed a species of Coturnix (C. novae-zealandiae), but this has become extinct. 4 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM The species of Galliformes are very numerous. Peters’s Check-list of Birds of the World (vol. ii, 1934, pp. 3-141) enumerates no fewer than 94 genera, a considerable number of which contain many forms each. KEY TO THE SUBORDERS AND SUPERFAMILIES OF GALLIFORMES a, Sternum 4-notched, narrower posteriorly than anteriorly...suborder Galli (p. 4) b. Sternum with inner notches very deep, extending for more than half length of sternum, outer division of long and narrow posterior lateral process slightly expanded only on outer side, costal process elongated and nearly parallel to long axis of sternum; hallux relatively small, attached above level of anterior toes, its basal phalanx much shorter than that of toe. superfamily Cracoidea (p. 4) bb. Sternum with inner notches relatively short, extending for less than half length of sternum, the outer division of the short and broad posterior lateral process widely expanded terminally on both sides, the costal process short with anterior edge at right angle with long axis of sternum; hallux relatively large, attached at same level as anterior toes, its basal phalanx as long as that of the third toe...............0000- superfamily Phasianoidea (p. 62) aa. Sternum 2-notched, wider posteriorly than anteriorly. suborder Opisthocomi (extralimital)° Suborder GALLI: Megapodes, Curassows, Grouse, Pheasants Galli Gapow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 34.—Bepparp, Struct. and Classif. Birds, 1898, 290.—Know _ton, Birds of the World, 1909, 49, 267——-Wermorr, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, art. 24, 1930, 3; Smiths. Misc. Coll., Ixxxix, No. 13, 1934, 6; xcix, No. 7, 1940, 5.—Perrers, Checklist Birds of World, ii, 1934, 3. Superfamily CrAcoIDEA: Pigeon-footed Galli =Peristeropodes Huxtey, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, 296.—OciILviE-GraNnT, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, xv, 33, 445—SaLvin and Gopmany, Biol Centr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 1902, 271—KNowtton, Birds of the World, 1909, 267, in text. =Galline Peristeropodes ScLaTer and Satvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, vii, 135. =Galline-Peristeropodes ELtiot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 229. >Pullastrae Core, Amer. Nat., xxiii, 1889, 871, 873 (includes also Pterocletes and Columbae!). Struthiones alis volantibus Wagler, Nat. Syst. Av., 1830, 6, 127 (includes Crypturi). >Crypturidae Nitzsch, Syst. Pterylog., 1840, 117 (in- cludes Crypturi and Hemipodii). >>Megapodinae Gray, Gen. Birds, iii, 1849, 490. Penelopide Bonaparte, Saggio Distr. Anim. Vertebr., 1831, 54 (includes Menuridae, Megapodidae, and Opisthocomidae!). =Penelopidae Nirzscu, Syst. Pterylog., 1840, 167—Barrp, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 609, 610. Cracidae Carus, Handb. Zool., i, 1868-75, 325 (includes Meleagridae!). =Cracidae Gapow, Classif. Vertebr., 1898, 34—-WeETMorE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Ixxvi, art. 24, 1930, 3; Smiths. Misc. Coll., Ixxxix, No. 13, 1934, 6; xcix, No. 7, 1940, 5—AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISsTS’ Union, Check-list, ed. 4, 1931, 78—Peters, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 1934, 9—HELLMaAyYR and Conover, Cat. Birds Amer., i, No. 1, 1942, 141. =Cracidae ScLater and Satvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, vii, 135 —Barrp, BREWER, and Riweway, Hist. North Amer. Birds, iii, 1874, 397-—-Coues, Key North Amer. Birds, ed. 2, 1884, 572,—Extior, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 229, 232, in text—AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS’ Union, Check-list, 1886, 178; ed. 3, 1910, 146.—OcILv1E-GraANT, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, 33, 473.—SHARPE, Hand-list, i, 1899, x, 14—Satvin and GopMay, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 1902, 271—KNow tron, Birds of the World, 1909, 49, 271. Cracine ScLater and Satvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 135.—Barrp, BREWER, and Rmeway, Hist. North Amer. Birds, iii, 1874, 397—E tttot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 233, in text—Ocitvie-GranT, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, 473.—SaLvin and GopMan, Biol. Centr.-Amer., Aves, iii, 1902, 271. >Gallinaceae Nirzscu, in Meckel, Deutsch. Arch. Phys. 1820, 258 (includes Otididae!). =Alectoropodes Ocrtviz-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxii, 1893, xi, 33—SALVvIN and GopMAN, Biol. Centr.-Amer. Aves, iii, 1902, 283—KNow ton, Birds of the World, 1909, 267, in text. >Alectoromorphae Huxtey, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, 459 (includes Turni- cidae, Pteroclidae, Megapodidae, Cracidae, and Phasianidae). =Galline Alectoropodes ScLaTer and Satvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, vii, 137.— Exuiot, Stand. Nat. Hist., iv, 1885, 198, in text. =Gallinae Corr, Amer. Nat., xxtii, 1889, 871, 873. =Phasiani AMERICAN OrNiTHoLocists’ Union, Check-list, 1886, 167; ed. 3, 1910, 134.—SHarpe, Rev. Rec. Att. Classif. Birds, 1891, 68; Hand-list, i, 1899, x, 18.