> Interestingly, though, there are no flightless galliforms in the > wild, There used to be one: _Sylviornis_, a flightless galliform from New Caledonia. I suspect it's an exception that proves your rule.
AFAIK, there used to be at least one more (on Vanuatu... or was it Fiji even?). But the point still holds -- apparently, galliforms need to become island giants to lose flight, as Feduccia's 1996 book says.