THE TIN AM US 



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family are very similar in general structure, it will be unnecessary to point out the 

 distinctive characteristics of the various genera; although it may be mentioned that 

 the family may be divided into two sections, according to the presence or absence of 

 a distinct first toe. Of the seven genera with a well-developed first toe, the robust 

 tinamu (Tmamus robustus) and the solitary tinamu (T. solitarius), of Brazil, are 

 representatives of the typical genus. The banded tinamu ( Crypturus noctivagus] , 

 of Brazil, is a well-known member of the largest genus of the family which contains 

 some sixteen species; while the martineta, or great tinamu (Rhynchotus rufescens), 

 of Brazil and Argentina, is one of two congeneric species, which may be compared 



GREAT TINAMU OR MARTINETA 

 (One-fourth natural size.) 



in size to a pheasant. Its eggs are of a wine-red color. On the other hand, the 

 spotted tinamu (Nothura maculata), and the allied Darwin's tinamu (TV. darwini}, 

 both of which are inhabitants of the Argentine pampas, are more nearly the dimen- 

 sions of a small partridge, their eggs being either purple red or liver color. The 

 two genera in which the first toe is rudimentary are each represented by a single 

 species, of which by far the handsomest is the crested tinamu (Calodromas elegans), 

 of Patagonia, in which both the upper and lower plumage is elegantly mottled, and 

 the head adorned with an upright crest. This species, which is of the size of an 

 English pheasant, lays from ten to a dozen blue-green eggs as large as those of a 



