WAYS OF TINAMOU 259 



afternoon were tlie periods of tlieir <>Teate.st aetivity and the 

 times when theii- calls were more fre(jiiently heard. On 

 eioudv (lavs, however, they wonld call at an\' liour, and on 

 moonlight nights, thron^hont the ni<^"ht. They were essen- 

 tially hirds of the jnnole and never left the deep woods to 

 eonie into the seeondgrowth. Like all tinamon they were 

 solitai-y hii'ds, and I never saw even a pair t<)<»-c'ther, although 

 oeeasionally several would he temporarily drawn to<^ether 

 by the abundance of fallen fruit beneath some great jungle 

 tree. 



When feeding, they would s(iuat at the first hint of 

 danger, but at the second alarm, if the source of danger ap- 

 proached gradually, they would bend low and attempt to 

 sneak quietly away. This was the usual view one got of 

 these birds if he was picking his way quietly through the 

 jungle. To watch them, one must crouch at the very first 

 hint of their presence and have patience to wait for a half- 

 hour to quiet their suspicions. When on the nest they did 

 not leave until discovery seemed inevitable, when they burst 

 up with a disconcerting whirr of wings, almost a booming, 

 which, coming unexpectedly made accurate observation very 

 difficult. 



I have never heard a crv of alarm or danger, nor any 

 call to chicks nor content note, neither have I seen them in 

 the act of uttering their trill. This call, which was a sum- 

 mons to the mate or mates — for this species is polyandrous — 

 w^as a true trill, steady and rolling, sustained on the same 

 note with the following intervals: 



In February or early ^larch the courtship was at its 

 height, judging from the loudness and persistency of the 

 long, drawn-out calls. About the second or third week in 

 JNIarch the breeding season began, and in nn'd-April, it was 

 in full swing. 



The nest was invariably placed at the base of a tree, 



