6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



KEY TO SPECIES OF TINAMIDAE 



1. Size large (equal to a small domestic fowl); wing more than 180 mm.; 



posterior face of tarsus rough, with upper margins of scutes prominent 



and projecting 2 



Size much smaller (equal to a medium-sized pigeon) ; wing less than 

 130 mm. ; posterior face of tarsus smooth, like the anterior surface. 



Little tinamou, Cryptiirellus soui, p. 17 



2. Tarsus strong, with projecting upper margin of posterior scutes sharp 



and rough; toes, including claws, relatively shorter and heavier, with 

 middle toe and claw less than 40 mm.; general color grayer; throat 



white or whitish Great tinamou, Tinamus major, p. 6 



Tarsus more slender with projecting upper margin of posterior scutes prom- 

 inent but smooth; toes, including claws, longer, more slender, with 

 middle toe and claw more than 45 mm. ; general color bright buffy brown, 

 with throat brown (ochraceous tawny). 



Highland tinamou, Nothocercus honapartei, p. 14 



TINAMUS MAJOR (Gmelin): Great Tinamou; Perdiz de Area 

 Figure 2 

 Tetrao major Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 767. (Cayenne.) 



Size of a small domestic fowl, with heavy body, slender neck, and 

 small head. 



Description. — Length 400 to 460 mm. Adult (sexes alike), above 

 brownish olive to grayish olive, with narrow, irregular, black bars on 

 back and wing ; crown sooty black to chestnut ; below grayish white to 

 brownish white, barred heavily on the flanks, and narrowly and indis- 

 tinctly elsewhere, with grayish black. 



Chicks, as they hatch, covered with soft down ; chestnut-brown on 

 the body, darker above, paler below, and whitish on the abdomen; 

 flanks barred with whitish ; rump and lower back barred with cream- 

 buff ; crown paler brown, with a blackish-brown band, lighter in cen- 

 ter, extending transversely from eye to eye ; a similarly colored band 

 from the base of the bill back through the eye to the ear coverts ; sides 

 of the head brownish beneath the eye, grayish above the ear region ; 

 chin and throat grayish white. 



Juvenile wing quills begin to grow immediately, and the down is 

 replaced quickly by a second plumage of firm feathers, in general 

 appearance like those of the adult, but darker in color, barred less 

 definitely above, but more heavily below, with the dorsal surface 

 sparsely spotted with buff. 



An adult male {Tinamus m. saturatus, intermediate toward ftisci- 

 pennis) shot near Mandinga, Comarca de San Bias, February 12, 

 1957, had the iris dark brown ; maxilla dusky neutral gray ; mandible 



