30 NEORNITHES RATITAE CHAP. 
being stalked or ridden down by means of fresh relays of beasts ; 
the Namaquas draw a cordon round them; the Byshman, con- 
cealed in sand or disguised in skins, shoots them with poisoned 
arrows; while the lasso, pitfall, or other device are used in par- 
ticular districts. Space will not permit a detailed account of 
the Ostrich farms of modern Africa, so well described in Messrs. 
de Mosenthal and Harting’s Ostriches and Ostrich-Farming, and 
other books; but it may be mentioned that the tribes of the 
north of that continent have long been in the habit of domes- 
ticating the bird, that the value of the sales in South Africa is 
not far from a milion pounds. yearly, and that the plumes are 
plucked or, preferably, cut about twice a year, the adults yielding 
the finest feathers. The flesh 1s coarse, and of little use for food. 
II. RHEAE. 
Fam. Rheidae.—The Rheas, or Nandus, have the head, neck, 
and bill much like those of Ostriches, the maxilla being somewhat 
more rounded and terminating in a nail-like process; the meta- 
tarsus is also similar and equally stout in proportion, but the toes 
are three in number in place of two, the mid-phalanges being 
shortened and the terminal furnished with decided claws. In 
Rhea darwint alone the metatarsi are mainly reticulated instead 
of scutellated anteriorly, and have the upper portion feathered. 
The bones of the wing are comparatively well developed, the 
feathers being slender but not ornamental, while there is no 
apparent tail. The furcula is wanting, as is the aftershaft to the 
feathers, but the syrinx is tracheo-bronchial with one pair of 
syringeal muscles, a condition absolutely unique among the Ratitae. 
The head and neck are feathered, only the lores, orbits, and ear-open- 
ings being naked, and of these the latter are surrounded by bristles. 
Rhea americana, the so-called American Ostrich, the Ema of 
the Brazilians, the Avestruz, Nandu, or Chueké of Argentina, 
is found, from Bolivia, Paraguay, and South Brazil to the Rio 
Necro, if not further ; it is brownish-grey with blackish crown, 
nape, and breast, white thighs and abdomen, and yellowish neck. 
The sub-species R. macrorhyncha of North-East Brazil is darker, 
with longer bill and more slender metatarsi. 2. darwini, which 
occurs south of the Rio Negro, and up the Andes to Tarapaca, is 
butfish-brown, with whiter underparts and white margins to the 
