92 BAH I A JBLANCA. [chap. v. 



females probably could not sit, from not having finished laying.* 

 I have before mentioned the great numbers of huachos, or de- 

 serted eggs ; so that in one day's hunting twenty were found in 

 this state. It appears odd that so many should be wasted. Does 

 it not arise from the difficulty of several females associating to- 

 gether, and finding a male ready to undertake the office of incu- 

 bation ? It is evident that there must at first be some degree of 

 association between at least two females ; otherwise the eggs 

 would remain scattered over the wide plains, at distances far too 

 great to allow of the male collecting them into one nest : some 

 authors have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited for 

 the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case in 

 America, because the huachos, although often found addled and 

 putrid, are generally whole. 



When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly 

 heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called 

 Avestruz Petise. They described it as being less than the com- 

 mon ostrich (which is there abundant), but with a very close 

 general resemblance. They said its colour was dark and mottled, 

 and that its legs were shorter, and feathered lower down than 

 those of the common ostrich. It is more easily caught by the 

 bolas than the other species. The few inhabitants who had seen 

 both kinds, affirmed they could distinguish them apart from a 

 long distance. The eggs of the small species appeared, however, 

 more generally known ; and it was remarked, with surprise, that 

 they were very little less than those of the Rhea, but of a slightly 

 different form, and with a tinge of pale blue. This species occurs 

 most rarely on the plains bordering the Rio Negro ; but about a 

 degree and a half further south they are tolerably abundant. 

 When at Port Desire, in Patagonia (lat. 48), Mr. Martens 

 shot an ostrich ; and I looked at it, forgetting at the moment, 

 in the most unaccountable manner, the whole subject of the 

 Petises, and thought it was a not full-grown bird of the com- 

 mon sort. It was cooked and eaten before my memory returned. 



* Lichtenstein, however, asserts (Travels, vol. ii. p. 25 s ) that the hens begin 

 sitting when they have laid ten or twelve eggs ; and that they continue 

 laying, I presume, in another nest. This appears to me very improbable. 

 He asserts that four or five hens associate for incubation with one cock, who 

 sits only at night. 



