266 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[December 1, 1894. 



pale straw-yellow when first laid ; the long-beaked rhea 

 fR. macrorhyncha ) , which is perhaps only a variety of the 

 latter; and Darwin's rhea ^Ji. tiancini), distingmshed by 

 laying eggs of a very pale sea-green colour. Occasionally 

 wholly white rheas are'met with, but these are probably 

 only albino individuals of the ordinary species. A strikingly 

 handsome bird in its plumage of black and grey, the male 

 rhea stands about four feet in height. The egg is a nearly 

 symmetrical oval, with the ends usually pointed, and the 

 longer diameter about six and a quarter, and the shorter 

 three and three-quarter inches, the shell being marked by 

 a number of small punctures. Occasionally, however, 

 specimens are met with in which the form is more 

 rounded. 



From the foregoing observations it will be seen that the 

 ratite birds of the present day, hitherto described, are 

 included in only five genera, and that, with the exception 

 of Australia, no country is the home of more than a 

 single genus ; while all, save the kiwis, are birds of large 

 size. 



Turnmg now to the evidence in favour of the existence 

 of a hitherto unknown diminutive representative of the 

 group in Patagonia, it may be mentioned in the first place 

 that the whole of the information in regard to it has been 



Egg of the Dwarf Rhea. From tlie only known specimen, pr 



at La Plata. Natural size. 



supplied to me by Dr. H. P. Moreno, the learned director 

 of the museum at La Plata, to whom I am indebted for 

 the photograph of the egg herewith given. That gentleman 

 tells me that, when exploring some years ago in the interior 

 of Patagouia, he saw numbers of small flightless birds 

 which.he at first took to be young rheas. Struck, however, 

 by seeing numerous parties of these birds, as well as by the 

 absence among them of any of the ordinary rheas which 

 might be their parents, he was soon led to discard this 

 view. On asking the Indians by whom he was accompanied 

 whether they knew the bu-ds, Dr. Moreno was informed 

 that they were perfectly familiar with them, and knew 

 them to be a small kind of rhea. Being unfortunately 

 unable to obtain specimens. Dr. Moreno on his return 

 asked a friend, who had travelled in the same district, 



whether he had any knowledge of the birds. The reply 

 was that, not only did he know them well and had often 

 seen them, but that he actually had in his possession 

 an egg which he had picked up. Naturally anxious to 

 obtain such a treasure. Dr. Moreno asked if his friend 

 would present the egg to the museum— a request which 

 was promptly and graciously granted. From that time 

 (some ten years ago) tOl the present day, that priceless 

 and unique specimen has lain undescribed in the La Plata 

 Museum, and the readers of Knowledge have consequently 

 the pleasure of being the first to see a published figure. 

 I am glad to be able to add that a beautiful wax-model has 

 been prepared for me, which will, in due course, be handed 

 over to the Natural History Museum. 



The specimen is entire, that is to say the contents have 

 been dried up by exposure, and now form a hard substance 

 which rattles when the shell is shaken. In form it is a 

 short oval, with blunt ends, the longer diameter being three 

 and a half, and the shorter nearly two and three-quarter 

 inches. As shown in the photograph, the shell is marked 

 by a number of small punctures, as in the egg of the 

 common rhea ; and the original colour was probably 

 yellowish-white, although the shell is now stained dark in 

 several places from contact with the soil. The shell is very 

 strong and thick, and the 

 egg bears all the indications of 

 having been laid by an adult 

 bird ; while its perfect sym- 

 metry indicates that it is not 

 an abnormally small egg of an 

 ordinary rhea. 



That the specimen is not the 

 egg of any known South Ameri- 

 can bird may (on the assumption 

 that it is a normal and full-sized 

 eiample) be regarded as certain ; 

 while all its characters point to 

 its being the egg of a ratite 

 bird. This being so, and taking 

 into account the statement of 

 two independent European wit- 

 nesses as to their having seen 

 small rhea-like bu-ds, which were 

 perfectly well known to the 

 Indians as adults, the presump- 

 tion of the existence in Pata- 

 gonia of a ratite of the approxi- 

 mate dimensions of a kiwi 

 becomes so strong as to amount 

 almost to a certainty. A 



further presumption is that 

 this unknown bird is allied 

 more or less closely to the 

 rheas, but whether it belongs to 

 the same genus cannot be ascertained imtil the acquisition 

 of actual specimens. In the meantime I think we may 

 provisionally call this unknown bird the dwarf rhea, or, 

 scientifically, Bhea nana, although it is quite possible that 

 it may represent a genus by itself. 



This is at present all the available information concerning 

 the mysterious bird of Patagonia, and one of my objects in 

 noticing the unique egg in a popular publication like 

 KN0WI.EDGE is the hope that all my readers who have 

 friends or relations in Patagonia may do all in their power 

 to stimulate them to use every effort to obtain a specimen 

 of the creature itself. If this should ever be accomplished, 

 what is now to a great extent hypothesis would be converted 

 into a certainty, and zoological science would be enriched 

 by a most important addition. 



"Served in tlie Museum 



