RHEA 787 
specimen in the Leverian Museum, and twenty years later said he 
had seen only one other, and that still younger, in Bullock’s collec- 
tion (Gen. Hist. B. viii. p. 379)... A bird living in confinement at 
Strasburg in 1806 was, however, described and figured by Hammer 
in 1808 (dnn. du Muséum, xii. pp. 427-433, pl. 39), and, though he 
does not expressly say so, we may infer from his account that it had 
been a captive for some years. In England the Report of the 
Zoological Society for 1833 announced the Rhea as having been 
exhibited for the first time in its gardens during the preceding 
twelvemonth. Since then many other living examples have been 
introduced, and it has bred both there and elsewhere in Britain, 
but the young do not seem to be very easily reared.” 
Though considerably smaller than the Ostrich, and, as before 
stated, wanting its fine plumes, the Rhea in general aspect far more 
resembles that bird than the other Latitw. The feathers of the 
head and neck, except on the crown and nape, where they are dark 
brown, are dingy white, and those of the body ash-coloured tinged 
with brown, while on the breast they are brownish-black, and on 
the belly and thighs white. In the course of the memorable voyage 
of the ‘ Beagle,’ Darwin came to hear of another kind of Rhea, 
called by his informants Avestruz petise, and at Port Desire on the 
east coast of Patagonia he obtained an example of it, the imperfect 
skin of which enabled Gould to describe it (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, 
p. 35) as a second species of the genus, naming it after its dis- 
coverer. thea darwini differs in several well-marked characters 
from the earlier known &. americana. Its bill is shorter than its 
head ; its tarsi are reticulated instead of scutellated in front, with 
the upper part feathered instead of being bare; and the plumage 
of its body and wings is very different, each feather being tipped 
with a distinct whitish band, while that of the head and neck is 
greyish-brown. A further distinction is also asserted to be shewn 
by the eggs—those of L. americana being of a yellowish-white, while 
those of £. darwini have a bluish tinge. Some years afterwards 
Mr. Sclater described (op. cit. 1860, p. 207) a third and smaller 
species, more closely resembling the &. americana, but having 
apparently a longer bill, whence he named it £2. macrorhyncha, more 
slender tarsi and shorter toes, while its general colour is very much 
darker, the body and wings being of a brownish-grey mixed with 
black. The precise geographical range of these three species is 
still undetermined. While &. americana is known to extend from 
Paraguay and southern Brazil through the state of La Plata to an 
uncertain distance in Patagonia, f. darwint seems to be the proper 
1 The ninth edition of the Companion to this collection (1810, p. 121) states 
that the specimen ‘‘ was brought alive” [?to England]. 
2 Interesting accounts of the breeding of this bird in confinement are given, 
with much other valuable matter, by Mr. Harting in the work already cited, 
