AVES RHEID.E. 13 



bordering the Rio Negro ; but about a degree and a half further south 

 they are tolerably abundant. When at Port Desire, in Patagonia (lat. 

 48), Mr. Martens shot an ostrich; and I looked at it, forgetting at the 

 moment, in the most unaccountable manner, the whole subject of the 

 Petises, and thought it not a full-grown bird of the common sort. It was 

 cooked and eaten before my memory returned. Fortunately the head, 

 neck, legs, wings, many of the larger feathers and a large part of the skin 

 had been preserved ; and from these a very nearly perfect specimen has 

 been put together, and is now exhibited in the museum of the Zoological 

 Society. Mr. Gould, in describing this new species, has done me the 

 honour of calling it after my name. 



" Among the Patagonian Indians in the Strait of Magellan, we found a 

 half Indian, who had lived some years with the tribe, but had been born 

 in the northern provinces. I asked him if he had ever heard of the 

 Avestrus Petise ? He answered by saying, 'Why there are none others 

 in the Southern countries.' He informed me that the number of eggs in 

 the nest of the petise is considerably less than in that of the other kind, 

 namely, not more than fifteen on an average ; but he asserted that more 

 than one female deposited them. At Santa Cruz we saw several of these 

 birds. They were exceedingly wary ; I think they could see a person 

 approaching when too far off to be distinguished themselves. In ascend- 

 ing the river- few were seen ; but in our quiet and rapid descent, many, in 

 pairs and by fours or fives, were observed. It was remarked that this 

 bird did not expand its wings, when first starting at full speed, after the 

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

 Struthio rJiea 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 terri- 

 tory. Mr. A. d'Orbigny, when at the Rio Negro, made great exertions 

 to procure this bird, but never had the good fortune to succeed. Dobriz- 

 hoffer 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 differ- 

 ent tracts of land; for those that inhabit the plains of Buenos Ayres and 

 Tucuman are larger, and have black, white and grey feathers ; those near 

 to the Strait of Magellan are smaller and more beautiful, for their white 

 feathers are tipped with black at the extremities, and their black ones' in 

 like manner terminate in white.' ' (Darwin's "Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle," 

 pp. 92-94, D. Appleton & Co., 1888.) 



