TINAM1D.E. 395 



bear some resemblance to^ Bustards^ tlie generic 

 title of Tinamotis^* altliougli ratber a barbarous 

 combination of languages, has been conferred upon 

 some species. Tlie Tinamous are found in the 

 open fields, preferring tbose wliicb lie on tlie bor- 

 ders of woods. They are seldom known to perch, 

 and are not very willing to use their wings, trusting 

 to the swiftness of their legs. Of one species of 

 Tinamou Mr. Darwin writes as follows : — 



" These birds do not go in coveys, nor do they 

 conceal themselves, like the English partridges. It 

 appears a very silly bird. A man on horseback by 

 riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a 

 spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock 

 on the head as many as he pleases. The more 

 common method is to catch them with a running 

 noose or little lasso, made of an ostrich feather, 

 fastened by the end to a long stick. A boy on a 

 quiet horse will frequently thus catch thirty or forty 

 m a day.^^ 



The food of the Tinamous consists mostly of 

 grain ; and after the fields of corn and maize are 

 sown, they do considerable damage by running 

 over the ground and picking out all the seeds which 

 have not been entirely covered by the soil. The eggs 

 of these birds are about seven or eight in number, 

 and are laid in the centre of some convenient tuft of 

 herbage. 



The type of this sub-fiimily is — 



Pentland's Tinamotis ( Tinamotis Pentlandii). 



* Compounded of Tinarnou, and otis, a bustard. 



