224 Prnakd, Beebe's ' Tropical Wild Life.' [^ 



in habits to the character of the back of the tarsus, which in Tina- 

 mus is rough, and in Crypturus quite smooth. He goes on to say 

 {I.e., p. 255): 



"These two distinctions have been recognized for many years — 

 Tinamus for more than one hundred and thirty, and Crypturus for a 

 hundred and six years, and during all this time ornithologists have 

 accepted this character without thought or question." 



I may say that the roosting habits of Tinamous are well known 

 to hunters in Surinam, and according to Mr. Beebe himself they 

 were not unknown to his Akawai hunter, Nupee, in whose state- 

 ments, however, Mr. Beebe seemed disposed to place less confidence 

 than in his own experiment, notwithstanding the fact that in either 

 case conclusive evidence could only be sought in actual observation 

 in the field. 



Nearly one hundred years ago Charles Waterton (Wanderings 

 in South America, 1825, p. 286) called attention to these habits 

 and suggested that the state of the tarsus might have some bearing 

 upon them. These are his words: 



" There is something remarkable in the great Tinamou, which I suspect 

 has hitherto escaped notice. It invariably roosts in trees; but the feet 

 are so very small in proportion to the body of this bulky bird, that they 

 can be of no use to it in grasping the branch; and, moreover, the hind toe 

 is so short, that it does not touch the ground when the bird is walking. 

 The back part of the leg, just below the knee, is quite flat, and somewhat 

 concave. On it are strong pointed scales, which are very rough, and catch 

 your finger as you move it along from the knee to the toe. Now, by means 

 of these scales, and the particular flatness of that part of the leg, the bird 

 is enabled to sleep in safety upon the branch of a tree." 



In regard to the "small Tinamou,' Waterton (Ibid., p. 287) says, 

 "The foot of this bird is very small in proportion, but the back 

 part of the leg bears no resemblance to that of the larger Tinamou; 

 hence one might conclude that it sleeps on the ground." 



Here then, we have at least one naturalist to whom " the casual, 

 nominal affair between Hermann and Illiger versus Tinamus and 

 Crypturus" was not all. 



But Waterton was not the only writer who has mentioned these 

 things. Schomburgk, (I. c, p. 749) under the name Trachypelmus 

 subcristatus [= Tinamus major (Gmel.)], speaks of the relation of 



