54 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



call is couijtosi'J of live or six long iiotos, witli a mellow, flutc-liko souikI, ami so 

 imi)rcssivL'ly uttered aiul sweetly luoilulatcil, that it is, pcrhajjs, the sweetest l>iril- 

 musie heanl in the Panijias. 



The tiiiaiuous are eonsiilered ratlier stujiiJ birds, and Darwin relates of another 

 species, N^othura major, which is smaller, lias a short bill, and no tail, that a man on 

 horseback, by riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spiral, so as to approach 

 closer each time, may knock on the head almost as many as lie ])lcases. The more 

 common method is to catch them with a noose, or little lasso, made of the stems of an 

 ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy on a fj\iiet old horse will 

 frequently tlius catch thii'ty or forty in a day. 



The smallest species is the Ynambu carap6 ( Taonisciis natuts) from Brazil and 

 Paraguay, it being only six inches long. It has no rectrices, but the coverts are dense 

 silky, and greatly elongated so as to form a kind of a train. It seems to be still more 

 unable to keep up a continued tlighl than the lihynchotus ; but little is known of its 

 habits beyond Azara's account. 



The foregoing birds, together witli most of the species composing the family, 

 belong to the group Tinaniina'. In the martineta {Calopezus dcf/nns) we have a 

 representation of the Tinamolinai. 3Ir. Hudson dissected a sjiecinien, and found 

 a most extraordinary structure of the intestinal canal, which he describes as divided 

 near the stomacli into a i>air of great ducts that extend almost to the entire length of 

 the abdominal cavity, and arc thickly set with rows of large, meiidiranous, clam-sha])ed 

 protuberances. Externally, the martineta, from size and mottled plumage, somewhat 

 resembles tlie Wii/iic/ioliin, but is less reddish, and has a shorter bill, while its head is 

 ornanunted with a long, slender crest, " wJiiih, when excited, the bird carries direct for- 

 ward, like a horn." Mr. Hudson remarks further tliat it is found in the northwestern 

 ])ortion of the Plata States, and south to the Rio Negro of Patagonia, frequenting the 

 elevated table-lands, where- patches of scattered dwarf scrul) occur among tlie close 

 thickets, and 8ul)sisting on seeds and berries. They go in coveys of from half a dozen 

 to twenty individuals, and, when disturl)ed, do not usually t.ake to flight, but start up 

 one after another, and run off with amazing swiftness. They are extremely fond of 

 dusting themselves. 



Okder. — GASTORNITIIES. 



In Jlarch, 1855, it was announced to the French Academy of Sciences that ^L 

 Gaston Plant6 had found in the conglomerate underneath the i)lastic clay at lias- 

 Meudon, France, a leg-bone of a gigantic bird, to which Mv. Herbert gave the name 

 Gastoriiix parLtie7isis, "in order t(^ indicate both tlie name of the discoverer and the 

 locality where it was found." Shortly after, a thigh-bone was discovered, only three 

 metres distant from the jilace where the leg-bone had been found. These remains, 

 from the lowest eocene beds, were conscientiously studieil by several savants, but the 

 great difference in their conclusions did not throw much light ui)on the affinities 

 of the l)ird. Mr. Herbert, Milne-Edwaids, and Lemoine came to the conclusion that 

 Gastornis — or rather its legs — showed rclationshi]i to the LameDirostres, or the duck 

 order. Valenciennes referred it to the neighborhood of the albatrosses, while Lartet and 

 Owen demonstrated some ])oints of resemblance to the waders, ]>articularly the rails. 



Recently additional material was discovered by the indefatigable Dr. Lemoine, 

 of Reims, France, who has been enabled to describe two other species of Gastornis, G. 

 minor and G. c(7trardsii, the former, however, from the fragment of a leg-bone only. 



