52 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



struthious gioiii>, yet," as Parker puts it. According to this authority, the wings also 

 seem to be struthious rather than gallinaceous, for in the humerus the crest for the 

 insertion of Xhv jiecloralix ttiojor is wot turned over as in the fowl; this answers to 

 the extreme (struthious) thinness of that muscle in the tinamou, this bird liaving but 

 little power to depress his wings. He can elevate them, however. It is highly inter- 

 esting, he says, to see the tinamou lift his 

 wings, just in the same manner as the ostrich 

 elevates hers. The tinaniou's "organs of 

 flight " are still much more rudimentary 

 than those of the fowl, seeing that they are 

 constructed far more for elevation than 

 for depression, the latter movement being 

 the one so necessary to flight. 



Again the ]>elvic arch j)resents the very 

 mark common to the birds we have hitherto 

 treated of, namely, that the ischium is not 

 united with the backward extension of the 

 ilium by bone, as is the case in all other 

 birds. To the struthious character of the 

 liieast-mnseles corresjionds peculiarities of 

 the muscles of the legs, of which the !ic- 

 cessory femoro-caudal has a slip arising 

 above the sciatic foramen, found elsewhere, 

 according to (iarnsd, only in the Struthiones. 

 Finally, Dr. Nathusius has foimd that the 

 minute structure of the tinamou egg-shells 

 is (juite ilifferent from tliose of the true (ial- 

 lina3, in that respect showing most resem- 

 blance to AjHeryx. 



Among external characters may be men- 



tioned that the bill is depressed, anil the 

 mouth split open to under the eyes; the 

 head is comjiaratively sm.all, the neck 

 rather long and narrow. The wings are 

 short and roumled, the tail feathers con- 

 cealed under the coverts, or altogether absent. The feet arc proxided with a rather 

 short hind foe, elev.ated from the ground. Powder-downs are present among the 

 feathers, and in some the fe.ithers have aftershafts. 



Several genera with a number of species, about fifty, distributed in two sul>families, 

 are recognized from Central and South America, where they are usually known as 

 Perdiz, ))artridge, being in fact, as game birds, a kind of substitutes for true Gallime. 

 Their size ranires between that of a ruffed m-ouse and a rinsr plover. Thev are emi- 

 nently ground-birds, which never perch on trees or shrubs. 



The largest and best known species is the Perdiz grande or 1' Ynamliu (Jihi/ncho- 

 ius rufescens) from Brazil southward. It is of a rusty yellow, banded crosswise 

 on the upper surface with blackish ; bill r.ither long, with the nostrils in the b.t.sal 

 part, hind toe well developed, and tail feathers short and soft. Mr. Hudson, having 

 the opportunity of studying the habits of several species of tinamou, has published 



Fio. 21.— Crypturus inegaiiodius. 



