102 THE TINOCHORUS. [chap. v. 



the manner of the northern kind. In conclusion, I may 

 observe that the Struthio rhea inhabits the country of La 

 Plata as far as a little south of the Rio Negro in lat. 41°, 

 and that the Struthio Darwinii takes its place in Southern 

 Patagonia ; the part about the Rio Negro being neutral 

 territory. M. A. d'Orbigny,* when at the Rio Negro, made 

 great exertions to procure this bird, but never had the good 

 fortune to succeed. Dobrizhoffer t long ago was aware of 

 there being two kinds of ostriches ; he says, * * You must 

 know, moreover, that emus differ in size and habits in 

 different tracts of land ; for those that inhabit the plains of 

 Buenos Ayres and Tucuman are larger, and have black, 

 white, and gray feathers ; those near to the Strait of 

 Magellan are smaller and more beautiful, for their white 

 feathers are tipped with black at the extremity, and their 

 black ones in like manner terminate in white. 



A very singular little bird, Tinochorus rumicivorus, is here 

 common : in its habits and general appearance, it nearly 

 equally partakes of the characters, different as they are, of 

 the quail and snipe. The tinochorus is found in the whole 

 of southern South America wherever there are sterile plains, 

 or open dry pasture land. It frequents in pairs or small 

 flocks the most desolate places, where scarcely another 

 living creature can exist. Upon being approached they 

 squat close, and then are very difficult to be distinguished 

 from the ground. When feeding they walk rather slowly, 

 with their legs wide apart. They dust themselves in roads 

 and sandy places, and frequent particular spots, where they 

 may be found day after day : like partridges, they take wing- 

 in a flock. In all these respects, in the muscular gizzard 

 adapted for vegetable food, in the arched beak and fleshy 

 nostrils, short legs and form of foot, the tinochorus has a 

 close affinity with quails. But as soon as the bird is seen 

 flying, its whole appearance changes ; the long pointed 

 wings, so different from those in the gallinaceous order, the 

 irregular manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the 

 moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen 

 of the Beagle unanimously called it the short-billed snipe. 



* When at the Rio Negro, we heard much of the indefatigable labours 

 of this aaturalist. M. Alcide d'Orbig-ny, during the years 1825 to 1833, 

 traversed several large portions of South America, and has made a collection, 

 and is now publishing the results on a scale of magnificence, which at once 

 places himself, in the list of American travellers, second only to Humboldt. 



t " Account of the Abipones," a.d. 1749, vol. i. (English translation), p. 314. 



