TINAMOUS. 15 
toes, the hind toe or hallux being generally developed. Powder-down 
patches are present near the rump in certain forms. The eggs are 
specially remarkable, being highly glossed or burnished, and unlike 
those of any other bird. 
Between sixty and seventy species are enumerated in the most recent 
treatise on the group. All are essentially ground-birds, and rarely 
perch, but haunt the undergrowth of thick forests, grassy flats inter- 
spersed with bushes, or open pampas. They are great runners, and 
generally difficult to flush; but once on the wing, their flight is strong 
and swift. The cry is a mellow whistle composed of several notes, and 
varies somewhat in the different species. The nest, a hole scraped in 
the ground under the shelter of some bush or tuft of grass, is lined 
with dry herbage and leaves, and, as in the Struthious birds, the male 
undertakes the duties of incubation. The number of eggs is said 
to vary from four to sixteen, the latter number being probably the 
produce of more than one female. The eggs vary in colour in the 
different genera, some being vinous, reddish-chocolate, or dull purple, 
others dark blue, bluish-green, sage-green, or primrose-colour, and the 
shell in all resembles glazed porcelain or burnished metal. 
In all the Tinamous the plumage is inconspicuous, the general colour 
being some shade of brown, greyish or buff, more or less mottled and 
barred. One of the largest species 1s Tinamus solitarius (25), a native 
of Paraguay and Southern Brazil; but the most familiar is the Rufescent 
Tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens) (27), found in the open pampas from 
Brazil southwards, and known as the “ Perdiz grande.” It has been 
introduced into England, and stands our climate well; but as a gvame- 
bird it cannot be called a success, being of solitary habit and difficult 
to flush. Once on the wing its flight is very fast and extraordinarily 
noisy; with constantly vibrating wings, the bird flies straight away 
for about 1000 yards before it slopes gradually to the earth. Of the 
other genera belonging to this section possessing a hind toe (Tinamina) 
examples will be found im Nothoprocta perdicaria (28) and several 
species of Crypturus (29-82). Two genera have no hind toe and form 
the section Tinamotidine; examples of these will be found in Tinamotis 
pentlandi (83) and Calopezus elegans (84), the latter remarkable for its 
long crest of black feathers. 
