On Birds of the Genus Homorus. 283 



open ground^ but occasionally in the centre of a thick tuft 

 of grass. 



52. Rhea amekicana^ Lath. 



Not uncommon in a semidomesticated sort of way. One 

 nest which I saw contained about fifty eggs in two tiers ; 

 they looked like round china bowls. It is decidedly awkward 

 to approach a nest unless one's horse is a hundred years old, 

 and consequently accustomed to everything ; otherwise, when 

 the Ostrich suddenly rises and dashes at the intruder, its 

 outspread and drooping wings sweeping the ground, and its 

 beak rattling like a pair of castanets, the horse is sure to 

 bolt or buck, sometimes both. 



Besides the foregoing, I certainly saw upwards of thirty 

 species which I am unable to name. Of course, had I had 

 more time at my disposal, and been oftener in the woods or 

 about the river, the number of species would have been much 

 greater. 



XXVII. — Notes on the Birds of the Genus Homorus observed 

 in the Argentine Republic. By W. II. Hudson, C.M.Z.S. 



1. Homorus lophotes, Reichb.* 



This species interested me greatly, but, owing to its rarity 

 in the district where I observed it and to its recluse habits, 

 my knowledge of it is very scanty. In the province of 

 Buenos Ayres its presence is confined to the narrow strip of 



* [This species is usually called Homonis unirufus (d'OrL. et Lafr.), 

 and is the bird so designated in our ' Nomeuclator/ p. 65 : it is also termed 

 Anahates unirufns by Burmeister (' La Plata-Reise,' ii. p. 466). It is, 

 however, as Graf v. Berlepsch has pointed out to me, not the Anumbius 

 (sive Anabates) unirufus of d'Orbigny's ' Voyage ' (Aves, p. 259, pi. 55. 

 fig. 1), which is much more like Homorus cristatus (Spix) ; but it may 

 probably be ^^ Anabates cristatus, Spix," of d'Orbigny's ' Voyage ' (p. 258), 

 although Spix's bird is certainly quite different. Under these circum- 

 stances the first specific name applicable to this species appears to be 

 '^lophotes''' of Eeichenbach (Handb. p. 182, tab. dxxv. fig. 3628). 

 Whether it is really the Anabates hphotes of the Leyden Museum (quoted 

 in Bp. Consp. i. p. 210) does not much matter, as that is only a MS, 

 name. — P. L. S.] 



