TINAMOUS. 15 



toes, the hind toe or hallux being generallv developed. Powder-down 

 patches are present near the rump in certain forms. The eggs are 

 specially remarkable, being highly glossed or burnished, and unlike 

 those of any other bird. 



Between sixty and seventy species are enumerated in the most recent 

 treatise on the group. All are essentially ground-birds, and rarely 

 perch, but haunt the undergrowth of thick forests, grassy flats inter- 

 spersed with bushes, or open pampas. They are great runners, and 

 generally difficult to flush ; but once on the wing, their flight is strong 

 and swift. The cry is a mellow whistle composed of several notes, and 

 varies somewhat in the diff^erent species. The nest, a hole scraped in 

 the ground under the shelter of some bush or tuft of grass, is lined 

 with dry herbage and leaves, and, as in the Struthious birds, the male 

 undertakes the duties of incubation. The number of eggs is said 

 to vary from four to sixteen, the latter number being probably the 

 produce of more than one female. The eggs vary in colour in the 

 different genera, some being vinous, reddish-chocolate, or dull purple, 

 others dark blue, bluish-green, sage-green, or primrose-colour, and the 

 shell in all resembles glazed porcelain or burnished metal. 



In all the Tinamous the plumage is inconspicuous, the general colour 

 being some shade of brown, greyish or buff, more or less mottled and 

 barred. One of the largest species is Tinamus solitarius (25), a native 

 of Paraguay and Southern Brazil ; but the most familiar is the Rufescent 

 Tinamou [Rhynchotus rufescens) (27), found in the open pampas from 

 Brazil southwards, and known as the ''Perdiz grande.^^ It has been 

 introduced into England, and stands our climate well ; but as a game- 

 bird it cannot be called a success, being of solitary habit and difficult 

 to flush. Once on the wing its flight is very fast and extraordinarily 

 noisy; with constantly vibrating wings, the bird flies straight away 

 for about 1000 yards before it slopes gradually to the earth. Of the 

 other genera belonging to this section possessing a hind toe [Tinamince) 

 examples will be found in Nothoprocta perdicaria (28) and several 

 species of Crypturus (29-32). Two genera have no hind toe and form 

 the section Tinamotidince; examples of these will be found in Tinamotis 

 pentlandi (33) and Calopezus elegans (34), the latter remarkable for its 

 long crest of black feathers. 



