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207 
his courage perhaps may arise from a principle not quite a stranger 
to the human breast—a consciousness of being well supported ; for, 
as I have said, they are always seen in multitudes. If you meet a 
flock of Warrees in the bush, and you take no notice of them, it is 
probable that they will take no notice of you. But if your intentions 
are hostile, and your design is to transfer one of them from his native 
wilderness to your kitchen, you must. take care to place yourself in a 
safe position before you carry your design into execution. A gen- 
tleman, not long since, shot a Warree without having taken the ne- 
cessary precautions; the remainder of the flock instantly pursued 
him, and if he had not managed to climb into a tree, he would have 
been torn in pieces. But he was kept a prisoner in that leafy asylum 
for many hours, the surviving Warrees being bent on revenging the 
death of their companion. Even when the flock went a little distance 
to feed, they left two or three to stand guard at the foot of the tree. 
The hunter has no difficulty in tracing the Peccary and the Warree, 
by the strong odour which prevails wherever they have been. 
“T am, Sir, 
** Your obedient servant, 
“R. Tempe.” 
The following papers were read :— 
1. On THE RuHeEAS IN THE Socrety’s MENAGERIE, wiTH Re- 
MARKS ON THE KNOWN SPECIES OF STRUTHIOUS BirRDs. 
By Pare Luriry ScLATER. 
In November 1858 the late Mr. Thompson purchased for the So- 
ciety in Liverpool a young Rhea, which now seems to have nearly 
attained its adult growth. It proves to be so remarkably different 
from the Common Rhea (Rhea americana) and the Darwin’s Rhea 
(Rhea darwinii), examples of which are kept in the same inclosure 
with it, that I have little hesitation in characterizing it as of a differ- 
ent species; and in so doing I believe I have the concurrence of 
Mr. Gould, Mr. Bartlett, and other naturalists, who have had an 
opportunity of examining the bird. 
The Long-billed Rhea (Rhea macrorhyncha, as I propose to call 
it) is a much smaller bird than the Common Rhea. The example in 
the Gardens, a male, stands about 6 inches lower than the two females 
of the American Rhea, which are in its company, and we may rea- 
sonably suppose that the female is proportionately smaller. The 
bill is much longer than that of the Common Rhea, as may be seen 
from the drawings (woodcut, figs. 1, 2, 3), which represent the heads 
of the three species, and the head-feathers are longer and more closely 
flattened down. On the other hand, the tarsi are much more slender 
and the toes much shorter. The thighs are less thickly clothed than 
in the Common Rhea ; but the scutellation of the tarsi seems to be 
nearly the same in both these birds, and offers a marked contrast 
to that of Rhea darwinii, in which the tarsi are for the greater part 
covered with reticulated scales. The feathers of the body are longer 
in the Long-billed Rhea, and curve round it, hiding the outline, in 
a manner not obseryable in the Common Rhea. With regard to 
