m North-eastern Brazil. 361 



"vras fortunate enongh to come across a living specimen of this 

 bird, brought along with a Cariama and two Herpetotheres 

 cachinnans , from Aguas Bellas, where it had been captured 

 young by the Indians. This bird was not yet adult, though 

 nearly full-grown. As I was very anxious to make out for 

 certain the species, I bought it, and, after a good deal of 

 trouble, succeeded in getting it alive to Recife, and even- 

 tually to London, where, however, unfortunately, it did not 

 live long. The " Ema," as the Rhea is called by the Bra- 

 zilians, is well known to the people in the Sertoes ; it is now 

 said to be rare near Aguas Bellas, but, I was told, is still 

 found pretty numerously (as is the Cariama) in the open grass- 

 covered country near San Bento. Indeed during the secca, 

 or drought, that has prevailed for the last few summers in 

 this part of the country, and which resulted in a general 

 famine, the " Emas " became so tame through hunger that 

 they might be found close to the town itself, and even came 

 into the gardens, and so were caught. My friend Mr. Wea- 

 ver, o£ Quipapa, told me he had had a young live Ema for 

 some time in his house, which had been sent him as a present 

 by a lady. This specimen came from Pianco, a small town in 

 the province of Parahyba ; so that evidently the range of Rhea 

 macrorhyncha extends to the north of Pernambuco. I hope, 

 ere long, to obtain, through the agency of some of my Bra- 

 zilian friends, specimens of the eggs and young of this bird 

 to compare with those of the commoner species. What the 

 exact northern extension of the latter is I do not exactly know, 

 though it certainly extends north of the River Plate into 

 Uruguay ; probably the barrier between the two species is a 

 continuously wooded country lying between that district and 

 the Sertoes of Bahia, where the species is also most probably 

 found. Capt. Burton, who alludes to the existence of a 

 Rhea in Brazil several times, saw one himself on the banks 

 of the S. Francisco near the Rio do Corrente, above Bom 

 Jardim (' Highlands of Brazil,^ ii. p. 296), and others at 

 Jaguara (/. c. ii. p. 26), in the province of Minas. 



I hope on some future occasion to be able to compare the 

 skeletons of Rhea americana and R. macrorhyncha; exter- 



