102 REPTILES. 



three toes instead of two, and each toe armed with a claw. 

 The head and neck are more fully clothed with plumage ; 

 while the wings are furnished with plumes, and more com- 

 pletely developed. He is, however, incapable of flight; 

 representing another grade, as it were, in Nature's slow 

 ascent from the wingless bird, doomed to a terrestrial 

 existence, to the perfect bird that soars aloft on "rapid 

 pens." 



Of the Reptiles of the region we are now considering 

 little need be said. Snakes are plentiful in the pampas, 

 but exhibit no peculiar characteristics; lizards also are 

 common; and in the warmer districts land tortoises are 

 met with. But the pampas are not favourable to any 

 extraordinary development of reptile life. 



