[Cases 
1 & 2.] 
10 BIRD GALLERY. 
Order II. RHEIFORMES. Ruea-rtrise. 
In South America the place of the Ostriches of the Old World is 
taken by an allied group of birds called Rheas, or “ American Ostriches,” 
which are distinguished by certain structural characters, and externally 
by the presence of three toes furnished with compressed claws, by the 
fully-feathered head and neck, and by the absence of a conspicuously 
feathered tail. The wings also are proportionately larger, and are 
covered with long slender plumes. As in the Séruthionide, the 
body-feathers are single, withont an aftershaft, a character which 
separates these birds from the Emus and Cassowaries. 
Family Raxipa. RuHeas. 
The Rheas include three South American species, viz. :—Roth- 
schild’s Rhea (Rhea rothschildi) (4), found from Southern Brazil and 
Bolivia southwards; the Great-billed Rhea (R. americana) inhabiting 
North-east Brazil; and Darwin’s Rhea (Pterocnemia pennata) (6), 
from the southern part of the continent. All bear considerable 
resemblance to their African allies, and are often called ‘‘ South 
American Ostriches,” but they are smaller and easily distinguished 
by the characters already mentioned. 
They inhabit the great Pampas and scrub-covered plains in larger or 
smaller flocks, often associating with deer and guanacos. In the month 
of July the pairing-season begins, and the males then utter a deep 
resonant booming noise and give vent to various weird sounds. ‘The 
young males are driven from the flock, and the cock birds fight viciously 
with one another for the possession of the females. The battles are 
conducted in a curious manner, the combatants twisting their long 
necks together and biting at each other’s heads with tleir beaks, while 
they turn round and round in a circle, pounding the ground with their 
feet. The females of the flock all lay together in a natural depression 
of the ground, each hen laying a dozen or more eggs. If the females 
are many, the male usually drives them away before they finish laying, 
and commences to sit. ‘The hens then drop their eggs about the plains, 
and, from the large number of wasted eggs found, it seems probable 
that more are dropped out of the nest than in it. The colour of the 
egg when fresh is a fine golden yellow. The young when hatched are 
assiduously tended and watched over by the cock-bird, who charges 
an intruder with outstretched wings. 
Rheas take readily to water, and can swim across a river several 
hundred yards wide, the body being almost entirely submerged. They 
are easily acclimatized, and often kept in parks in this country, where 
they frequently breed. The feathers are of little commercial value, 
