Feet scarcely raptorial, with lengthened, little curved or contractile, weak, short claws. Hallux elevated, shortened, not more than half as long as the fourth toe, with small claw. Front toes all webbed at base; middle toe lengthened; outer not reversible. Basal phalanx of middle toe longer than either of the succeeding. Nostrils perforate. Bill lengthened and comparatively weak, little hooked, contracted in its continuity; tomia not toothed or lobed. Head naked of feathers in greatest part; sparsely bristly. No lower larnyx developed. No cœca. After-shafts absent … _Cathartidæ_. FAMILY OF COLUMBÆ. 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_.