5 2 Charles Darwin. 



the body of the bird was almost entirely concealed 

 from view, the head and neck alone appearing above 

 the surface, presenting a most comical appearance as 

 they moved slowly along. The cock rhea is the 

 larger, darker coloured, and can be distinguished by 

 the natives from the female at a long distance. 

 While standing in the brush one day the young 

 naturalist heard a deep-toned hissing sound, which 

 he at first thought proceeded from some large wild 

 beast, but soon discovered that it was the cry of the 

 cock ostrich. 



Darwin found bird-nesting for ostrich eggs an easy 

 task, the nests being very plentiful everywhere at 

 Bahia Blanca in the months of September and Oc- 

 tober. Four nests were found to contain twenty- 

 two eggs, while another bore twenty-seven. The 

 egg-hunting was followed on horseback, and one day 

 Darwin almost ran over a cock sitting on a nest. 

 The Gauchos informed him that at times the males 

 were exceedingly fierce, attacking all intruders, leaping 

 at them much after the fashion of an African ostrich. 



While observing the ostrich the Gauchos told our 

 hero of another kind which they called the Avestruz 

 Petise, which they said was smaller and more easily 

 captured. But one of these was taken, and not 

 until it had been skinned and cut up for the table 

 did the young naturalist learn that it was the un- 

 known species. The principal parts were preserved, 

 and from these Mr. Gould described the new species, 

 naming it after Darwin, Struthio Darwinii. The 

 specimen is now in the museum of the Zoological 

 Society. The rhea proper, according to Darwin, 



