236 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



and colour. The average size of the eggs was the 

 same as those of the Common Rhea ; in shape they 

 were more or less elliptical, scarcely any two being 

 precisely alike. The shell has a fine polish, and 

 when newly laid the colour is deep, rich green. They 

 soon fade, however, and the side exposed to the sun 

 first assumes a dull mottled green ; then this colour 

 fades to yellowish, and again to pale stone-blue, 

 becoming at last almost white. The comparative 

 age of each egg in the nest may be known by the 

 colour of the shell. The male incubates and rears 

 the young ; and the procreant habits seem altogether 

 like those of Rhea americana. 



The young are hatched with the legs feathered 

 to the toes ; these leg-feathers are not shed, but are 

 gradually worn off, as the bird grows old, by con- 

 tinual friction against the stiff, scrubby vegetation. In 

 adults usually a few scattered feathers remain, often 

 worn down to mere stumps ; but the hunters told 

 me that old birds are sometimes taken with the legs 

 entirely feathered, and that these birds frequent 

 plains where there is very little scrub. The plumage 

 of the young is dusky grey, without white and black 

 feathers. When a year old they acquire by moulting 

 the mottled plumage of the adults, but do not attain 

 their full si^e until the third year. 



END OF VOL, II 



