236 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
and colour, The average size of the eggs was the 
same as those of the Comfmon Rhea; in shape they 
were more or less elliptical, scarcely any two being 
precisely alike. The shell has a fine polish, and 
when newly laid the colour is deep, rich green. They 
soon fade, however, and the side exposed to the sun 
first assumes a dull mottled green; then this colour 
fades to yellowish, and again to pale stone-blue, 
becoming at last almost white. The comparative 
age of each egg in the nest may be known by the 
colour of the shell. The male incubates and rears 
the young; and the procreant habits seem altogether 
like those of Rhea americana. 
The young are hatched with the legs feathered 
to the toes; these leg-feathers are not shed, but are 
gradually worn off, as the bird grows old, by con- 
tinual friction against the stiff, scrubby vegetation. In 
adults usually a few scattered feathers remain, often 
worn down to mere stumps; but the hunters told 
me that old birds are sometimes taken with the legs 
entirely feathered, and that these birds frequent 
plains where there is very little scrub. The plumage 
of the young is dusky grey, without white and black 
feathers. When a year old they acquire by moulting 
the mottled plumage of the adults, but do not attain 
their full size until the third year. 
END OF VOL. Ii 
