448 TINAMID. 
may be quite vestigial; and the apteria are very large. In describing the pterylo- 
graphy of the Tinamous, the above-named author makes special mention of some 
curious papille on the jaws of the nestlings, suggesting vestiges of teeth. 
The eggs of Tinamous are very remarkable, having a highly polished appearance. 
Their colour varies in different genera, being blue, green, purplish, or clay-colour. 
Fam. TINAMID2. 
There is but one family of Crypturi, and its characters are therefore the same as 
those of the order. 
Count Salvadori, who has lately monographed the Tinamide in the twenty-seventh 
volume of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’ admits nine distinct genera. He divides them into 
two subfamilies, one of which, the Tinamotidine, is confined to South America. 
Subfam. TINAMINE. 
The seven genera composing this subfamily have a hind toe, and they are divided 
into two sections, distinguished by the nature of the tail-feathers. The first section 
only concerns our present work, but all three of the genera—Tinamus, Nothocercus, 
and Crypturus—are found in Central America. 
TINAMUS. 
Tinamus, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. p. 633 (1790); Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 496 (1895). 
The tail-feathers in the genus Tinamus are ten in number, and they are all completely 
hidden by the upper tail-coverts. The hinder aspect of the tarsus is rugose, the scales 
being reticulated and having roughened edges. The anterior aspect is scutellate. | 
Three species are found within our limits, but it must be admitted that the characters 
for their distinction are not too strongly pronounced. It seems to us that the changes 
of plumage through which these birds pass from the young to the adult stage are as 
yet imperfectly understood, and that many of the peculiarities on which the species 
have been founded may ultimately prove to be due to age or season alone: The 
‘Tinamous, moreover, appear to vary in depth of colour according to their habitat, 
1. Tinamus robustus, 
Tinamus major (nec Gm.), Moore, P. Z.8. 1859, p. 63"; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 2267. 
Tinamus robustus, Scl. P.Z.S. 1860, p. 253°; Salv. Ibis, 1861, p. 355*; 1866, p. 204°; Sumichr, 
La Nat. v. p. 229°; Salvad. Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 5007; Oates, Cat. Eggs Brit. 
Mus. i. p. 10, t. 1. fig. 1°. 
Trachypelmus robustus, Heine & Reichen. Nomencl. Mus, Hein. p- 803°. 
Olivascenti-brunneus vix Jilaceo adumbratus, plumis singulis sparsim maculis duplicibus nigris fasciatim 
