CALODROMAS ELEGANS. 215 



the two species are not very near relations. The structure of the 

 intestinal canal in the Martineta is most peculiar, and unlike that of 

 any other bird I have ever dissected : the canal divides near the 

 stomach into a pair of great ducts which widen towards the middle and 

 extend almost the entire length of the abdominal cavity, and are thickly 

 set with rows of large membranous claw-shaped protuberances. 



The Martineta inhabits the elevated tablelands, and is found chiefly 

 where patches of scattered dwarf scrub occur among the thorny thickets. 

 Apparently they do not require water, as they are met with in the 

 driest situations where water never collects. They are extremely fond 

 of dusting themselves, and form circular, nest-like hollows in the 

 ground for that purpose ; these hollows are deep and neatly made, and 

 are visited every day by the same birds throughout the year. They 

 live in coveys of from half a dozen to twenty or thirty birds, and when 

 disturbed do not as a rule take to flight at once, but jump up one 

 after another and run away with amazing swiftness, uttering as they 

 run shrill, squealing cries, as if in the greatest terror. Their flight, 

 although violent, is not so sounding as that of the Pampas Tinamou 

 (Rhynchotus) , and differs remarkably in another respect. Every twenty 

 or thirty yards the wings cease beating and remain motionless for a 

 second, when the bird renews the effort ; thus the flight is a series of 

 rushes rather than a continuous rush like that of the Rhynchotus. It 

 is also accompanied with a soft wailing note, which appears to die away 

 and swell again as the flapping of the wings is renewed. 



The call-note of the Martineta is never heard in winter; but in 

 the month of September they begin to utter in the evening a long, 

 plaintive, slightly modulated whistle, the birds sitting concealed and 

 answering each other from bush to bush. As the season advances the 

 coveys break up, and their call is then heard on every side, and often 

 all day long, from dawn until after dark. The call varies greatly in 

 different birds, from a single whistle to a performance of five or six 

 notes, resembling that of Rhynchotus, but inferior in compass and 

 sweetness. They begin to breed in October, making the nest in the 

 midst of a small isolated bush. The eggs vary in number from twelve 

 to sixteen ; they are elliptical in form, of a beautiful deep green in 

 colour, and have highly polished shells. 



It is probable, I think, that this species possesses some curious 

 procreant habits, and that more than one female lays in each nest; 

 but owing to the excessive wariness of the bird in a state of nature it 

 is next to impossible to find out anything about it. No doubt the day 

 will come when naturalists will find the advantage of domesticating the 

 birds the life-histories of which they wish to learn : may it come before 

 all the most interesting species on the globe are extinct ! 



