964 TINAMOU 
Buffon and his successors saw that the Tinamous, though 
passing among the European colonists of South America as “ Part- 
ridges,” could not be associated with those birds, and Latham’s 
step, above mentioned, was generally approved. The genus he had 
founded was usually placed among the Galline, and by many 
writers was held to be allied to the Bustards, which, it must be 
remembered, were then thought to be “Struthious.” Indeed the 
likeness of the Tinamou’s bill to that of the RHA (p. 785) was 
remarked in 1811 by Hliger. On the other hand, L’Herminier in 
1827 saw features in the Tinamou’s sternum that in his judgment 
linked the bird to the fallidz. In 1830 Wagler (Nat. Syst. Amph. 
u. $.w. p. 127) placed the Tinamous in the same Order as the 
Ostrich and its allies; and, though he did this on very insufficient 
grounds, his assignment has turned out to be not far from the mark, 
as in 1862 the great affinity of these groups was shewn by Prof. 
Parker (Trans. Zool. Soc. v. pp. 205-232, 236-238, pls. xxxix.-xli.), 
and a few years later further substantiated by him (Phil. Trans. 
1866, pp. 174-178, pl. xv.). Shortly after this Prof. Huxley (Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1867, pp. 425, 426) was enabled to place the matter in a 
clear light, urging that the Tinamous formed a very distinct group 
of birds which, though not to be removed from the CARINATA, 
presented so much resemblance to the Ratira as to indicate them 
to be the bond of union between those two great divisions.! ‘The 
group from the resemblance of its palatal characters to those of the 
Emevu (p. 212), Dromexus, he called DROMHOGNATH, and _ his 
decision, if not his name, has since been widely accepted. 
The Tinamous thus—by whatever name we call them, Dromxo- 
gnathx, Tinami or Crypturi—will be seen to be of great importance 
from a taxonomer’s point of view, though in regard to numbers they 
are comparatively insignificant. In 1873 Messrs. Sclater and Salvin 
(Nomencl. Av. Neotrop. pp. 152, 153) recognized nine genera and 
thirty-nine species; but in 1895 Count T. Salvadori (Cat. B. Br. 
Mus. xxvii. pp. 494-569) admitting the nine genera, acknowledged 
but sixty-six species. They are especially characteristic of the 
Patagonian or Chilian portion of the Neotropical Region—four 
species only finding their way into Southern Mexico and none 
beyond. Some of them inhabit forests and others the more open 
country ; but setting aside size (which in this group varies from 
that of a Quail to that of a large common Fowl) there is an unmis- 
takable uniformity of appearance among them as a whole, so that 
almost anybody having seen one species of the group would always 
recognize another. Yet in minor characters there is considerable 
difference among them; and before all the group may be divided 
1M. Alix also has from an independent investigation of the osteology and 
myology of Nothura major come to virtually the same conclusion (Jowrn. de 
Zoologie, iii. pp. 169 and 252, pls. viii.-xi.) 
