230 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
find the advantage of d@esticating the birds the 
life histories of which they wish to learn: may it 
come before all the most interesting species on the 
globe are extinct ! 
COMMON RHEA 
Rhea americana 
Above, head blackish; neck whitish, becoming black at the base 
of the neck and between the shoulders; rest slatey grey; beneath, 
throat and upper neck whitish, becoming black at the base of the neck, 
whence arise two black lateral crescents, one on either side of the 
upper breast; rest of under surface whitish; front of tarsus through- 
out covered with broad transverse scutes; length about 52 inches. 
Tue Common Rhea (called Nanda in the Guarani 
language, Chueké by the pampas Indians, and Ostrich 
by Europeans) is found throughout the Argentine 
Republic down to the Rio Negro in Patagonia, and, 
in decreasing numbers, to a considerable distance 
south of that river. Until within very recent times 
it was very abundant on the pampas, and I can 
remember the time when it was common within 
forty miles of Buenos Ayres city. But it is now 
becoming rare, and those who wish to have a hand 
in its extermination must go to a distance of three 
or four hundred miles from the Argentine capital 
before they can get a sight of it. 
The Rhea is peculiarly well adapted, in its size, 
colour, faculties,-and habits, to the conditions of 
the level woodless country it inhabits; its lofty 
stature, which exceeded that of any of its enemies 
