2332 



THE TIN AMU S, FLIGHTLESS BIRDS, ETC. 



eggs, and in the superiority in size of the male over the female, the rheas are 

 further distinguished by certain peculiarities in regard to the bones at the base of 

 the skull, and likewise by the circumstance that the ischia, or hinder lower bones 

 of the pelvis, meet in a symphysis in the middle line, instead of the pubes doing so. 

 The flattened beak is broad at the base and rounded at the tip, where it has a 

 curved nail-like sheath, and the extremity of the wing has a horny process. The 

 lores and region round the eye, as well as a ring round the aperture of the ear, are 

 devoid of feathers, the ear aperture being clothed with bristles. On the head and 

 neck the feathers are small, thin, and pointed; while those of the body are large, 

 broad, and rounded, although so soft that no distinct vanes are formed. In color- 

 ation the two sexes are very similar, although the female is generally somewhat 

 paler than her consort. The best known, and at the same time the most abundant, 

 of the three species by which the single genus is now represented, is the common 

 rhea (Rhea americana), inhabiting the pampas of Argentina and Patagonia. This 

 species is far inferior in size to the ostrich, but it is the largest of the three. Black 

 on the crown of the head and nape, as well as on portions of the upper neck and 

 the fore-breast, with yellow and bluish gray on the sides and other parts of the neck, 

 the general color of the plumage on the back, sides of the breast, and wings is 

 brownish ashy gray in the cock; while the remainder of the under parts are dirty 

 white. The iris of the eye is pearl gray, the naked portion of the skin flesh colored, 

 the beak horn brown, and the leg gray. In the female the feathers of the nape and 

 front of the breast are somewhat lighter in hue. The place of the ordinary species is 

 taken in Eastern Patagonia by the far less common Darwin's rhea (R. darwini), 

 distinguished by its smaller size, relatively-shorter legs, which are feathered down to 



the ankle joint, as well 

 as by the more mottled 

 and less uniformly- 

 colored plumage, and the 

 pale green eggs. Lastly, 

 we have the long-billed 

 rhea (R. macrorhyncha) 

 of Northern Brazil, 

 which is also a small 

 form characterized by 

 its longer beak, larger 

 and more flattened head 

 feathers, the longer 

 feathers of the body, 

 and the more slender 

 legs, as well as by the 

 general darker colora- 

 tion, which is brownish 



gray mingled with black. Fossil remains of rheas, some of which belong to exist- 

 ing species, are met with in the caverns of Brazil and the superficial deposits of 

 other districts of South America. 



HEAD OF LONG-BITTED RHEA. 

 (From Sclater Proc. Zool. Soc., 1860.) 



