INTRODUCTION XI 



mou has smooth tarsi; its nesting liabits are extraordinary, 

 for the male makes the nest, stays witli it until he can per- 

 suade a roving female to drop an e^g in it, and then hatches 

 the egg and rears the chick, while the female goes off; and 

 as soon as the chick is fairly grown the male finds another 

 temporary mate of advanced feministic views. The big tina- 

 mou has more normal nesting habits, although the male 

 hatches and rears the familv. This tinamou has rou<»h tarsi. 



Beebe found that there was always dust or dirt in these 

 rough tarsi; one day he sterilized some earth, by heat, 

 scraped the dirt from a rough tinamou tarsus into it, ant] 

 reared the culture. Various plants came up, and all of them 

 were arboreal. Inasmuch as during the daytime the big 

 tinamou, like the little tinamou, was a ground bird, this 

 seemed to indicate that it roosted in the trees at night. Cau- 

 tious inquiry of the Indians (so made as not to indicate 

 that a given answer was expected) drew forth the statement 

 that at night the little tinamou roosted on the ground, the 

 big one in trees. Finally, watching from a shelter one eve- 

 ning, Beebe actually saw a big tinamou ascend a tree and 

 squat lengthwise on a branch, just before darkness came on. 



The invaluable studies on the various stages of the 

 breeding habits, the nestling development, the molting 

 changes of hoatzins, toucans, anis, jacanas, not to speak 

 of the studies of the strange swarming insect life, and 

 the mammalian life, could onlv have been made by trained 

 field observers working with intensive observation out in the 

 field at the tropical station. Mr. Beebe and his associates, 

 INIessrs. Hartley and Howes, have not only done a first class 

 job, but they have pointed out the way into what is probably 

 the most fruitful field for original and productive biological 

 investigation. 



Theodore Roosevelt. 

 Sagamore Hill, 



December 10, 1916. 



