GALLJNID^B. 



591 



year they range over no inconsiderable extent of sur- 

 face. This becomes necessary ; for during the latter 

 part of the dry season the produce of their pastures 

 is exhausted, and during the rains a considerable ex- 

 tent of those pastures is laid under water. Neither 

 the one nor the other of those circumstances occurs 

 in the same district at the same time ; so that the 

 birds have a sort of seasonal movement between 

 the higher and the lower grounds. From their being 

 obliged to walk more vigorously and migrate further 

 than the partridges of the eastern continent, the flesh 

 of the old birds is not so tender as that of partridges. 

 Still, however, they are much esteemed, and eagerly 

 hunted by the guassows or peasantry of South Ame- 

 rica. They are naturally unsuspicious, and not afraid 

 of the iiunters, who thus procure them in great num- 

 bers. They indeed disperse themselves during the 

 day ; but they assemble in flocks during the night. 

 They form their nests of dry leaves under the bushes, 

 in a very rude manner ; and some idea of their fer- 

 tility may be formed, when it is stated that they breed 

 twice in the year, and have from fifteen to twenty in 

 a hatch. They eat all manner of seeds, small fruits, 

 berries, and insects ; but though they often resort to 

 the woods and copses in search of these, they do not 

 perch or pull them from the bush, as they pick them 

 up from the ground, that being their proper feeding 

 place ; and they scrape the earth in the same man- 

 ner as poultry. The soil, in such a country as South 

 America, affords a rich pasture for rasorial, or scrap- 

 ing birds, because the heavy rains beat down a num- 

 ber of seeds and- other matters, and so incorpo- 

 rate them with the soil, that they require to be 

 scraped out. Altogether, though there is a resem- 

 blance between this genus of birds and the partridges, 

 both in form and in use in the economy of nature, yet 

 it is impossible to help admiring the beauty, and per- 

 fection with which each is adapted to her peculiar 

 diversity, and suited to the peculiar physical charac- 

 ter of its own country. Nor is it unworthy of remark, 

 that the small mammalia which inhabit nearly the 

 same places of South America, as the tinamous, are 

 also all feeders on the ground, and the greater num- 

 ber of them are burrowing animals, which scrape the 

 earth not merely for the purpose of forming habita- 

 tions, but for that of finding them food, at least at 

 certain seasons. The reader who wishes to see more 

 of this analogy between the ground birds and the 

 ground mammalia of the dry plains of South Ame- 

 rica, may compare what has been now said with what 

 will be found noticed in the articles ARMADILLO and 

 CHINCIIILLID^E, in their places in the alphabet in 

 a former part of this work. There are a good many 

 species of this genus, of which we shall give some 

 short notice : 



Crypturus magoun. This species has been called 

 Brazilian ; but it occurs in perhaps equal abundance 

 in other parts of South America. The groundcolour 

 all over is olive-brown, slightly striated across, with 

 black above, greyish red beneath ; crown rufous ; 

 the secondary quills transversely striated with ru- 

 fous and black. Size of a common fowl. About 

 eighteen inches in length ; the body more compact 

 and thicker than that of the pheasant. The birds of 

 this species inhabit Brazil and French Guiana, where 

 they roost on the low branches of trees, two or 

 three feet from the ground. The female lays from 

 twelve to fifteen eggs, of the size of those of a hen, 

 and of a beautiful green colour, in a nest formed on 



the ground, among the thick herbage, and carelessly 

 composed of moss and dried vegetables. The young 

 run, almost as soon as they arc hatched, after the 

 mother, and hide themselves* on the least appearance 

 of danger. Their cry, which is a sort of dull whistle, 

 may be heard a great way off. Many of them are 

 shot, and many caught, when roosting on the trees. 

 The flesh and eggs are esteemed great dainties. 



Crypturus rufescens, the reddish tinamou, called 

 also the guazu, has the ground colour greyish red, 

 transversely, striped with black and white above, 

 margin of the wings rusty red ; region of the ears black, 

 breast pale yellowish red, waved with brown be- 

 neath. Sides and abdomen greyish. Fifteen inches 

 and a half in length. This bird is a native of Para- 

 guay, and the most beautiful of its family residing 

 among thick herbage, which it seldom quits, except 

 on the point of being trampled on or struck with a 

 stone. Its cry, which is heard at a considerable 

 distance, is a lugubrious whistle. The female con- 

 ceals her rude nest among dry stalks, in a tuft of grass 

 or under a bush, and the eggs are said to be not quite 

 so numerous as those of the former species. The 

 eggs are of a delicate violet colour, and of nearlv 

 equal thickness at both ends. When these birds are 

 alarmed they erect the feathers on the head, some- 

 thing in the form of a crest. They are found in 

 Brazil as well as in Paraguay. 



Crypturus nanus, is a small species found also in Bra- 

 zil and Paraguay. The upperpartsare of a brownish co- 

 lour, with the extremities of the feathers on the back and 

 rump black, and beautifully waved with greyish white. 

 These last feathers are, in some specimens, very much 

 enlarged, and have reddish spots of red between the 

 black ones. The top of the head is mottled with red 

 and grey, with the middle of the feathers black ; the 

 cheeks and sides of the neck are greyish ash colour, 

 with black borders to their feathers. The nape and up- 

 per part of the nape brownish ash with black centres. 

 The small and middle coverts are reddish cream 

 colour, rayed with black, and with large white spots ; 

 the quills black, with rust-coloured borders to their 

 outer webs ; the throat and middle of the under part 

 are whitish, with obscure black streaks ; the breast 

 is cream-yellow, streaked with brown ; the feathers 

 on the rump are loose and downy, and form a sort of 

 silky tuft ; the bill is brown, with the base of the 

 lower mandible yellow, and the feet are yellow. 

 The full grown male of this interesting little species 

 is only about six inches in length. The female is an 

 inch shorter; the colours incline more to red, and 

 the black spots on the upper part are not nearly so 

 conspicuous. 



Crypturus obsoletus is another species found in the 

 ame localities with the last-mentioned ; but it is 

 larger in size. The upper parts are blackish-brown, 

 clouded with red ; the top of the head and the upper 

 part of the neck blackish-ash ; the sides of the neck 

 and the throat reddish-ash ; the back of the neck, the 

 breast, the flanks, and the belly, are bright rust- 

 coloured red ; and the feathers on the flanks and 

 belly are produced so as to clothe the thighs ; their 

 ground colour is rust-red, and they are strongly rayed 

 with black. The feathers of the tail are exceedingly 

 short, and entirely hidden by the coverts. The bill 

 and feet reddish-brown. The length of the full 

 grown male is about eleven inches and a half. The 

 female is smaller and duller in the colours. This is 

 described as a very swift -footed species. 



