TINAMID^E. 207 



At the mouth of the Rio Negro Hudson once picked up a specimen 

 of a Penguin, believed to have been of this species, which had 

 apparently just met its death by some accident. The range of this 

 bird, moreover, appears to extend much further north, as it is well 

 known to the Gauchos along the coast, who call it '' Pajaro Niilo " (bird 

 boy), from its fancied resemblance to a small human being when it 

 stands erect on the shore. 



Darwin (Nat. Voy. chap, iii.) speaks of having seen numerous Pen- 

 guins in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata, when approaching Monte 

 Video in the ( Beagle/ in July 1832; and Graf v. Berlepsch tells me he 

 has an imperfect specimen of Spheniscus magellanicus from the coast of 

 Rio Grande do Sul, where it was picked up dead. 



The " Jackass Penguin " is a well-known species in the Falkland 

 Islands, to which it resorts in thousands for the purpose of breeding. 

 Capt. Abbott tells us it arrives at the latter end of September and 

 commences laying in its breeding-holes, almost to a day, on October 17. 

 Some of these birds, however, are found on the shores of the Falkland 

 Islands throughout the year. 



Order XIX. CKYPTUEI. 



Fam. LIIL TINAMID^E, OR TINAMOUS. 



The Tinamous constitute one of the most singular and characteristic 

 types of the Neotropical avifauna. Until late years they were usually 

 associated with the Gallinse or Game Birds, but differ very widely from 

 them in the conformation of the skull and in other essential points of 

 structure, and are now generally regarded as forming an Order of their 

 own, to be placed at the base of the series of Carinatae. About forty 

 species of Tinamous are known, of which eight occur within our limits. 



425. CRYPTURUS OBSOLETUS, Temm. 

 (BROWN TINAMOU.) 



Crypturus cinereus, White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 629 (Salta) (P). Ynaxnbu 

 azulado, Azara, Apunt. iii. p. 52 (Paraguay). Crypturus obsoletus, 

 Scl. et Salv. Nomend. p. 152. 



Description. Above reddish brown ; head blackish ; sides of head pale cine- 

 reous : beneath chestnut-brown ; chin pale cinereous ; lower half of abdomen 

 pale ochraceous, distinctly barred with undulating black bands ; bill brown, 

 yellowish at the base ; feet dark flesh-colour : whole length 12-0 inches, 

 wing 6-2, tail 1-8. 



