80 The Tinamous 



is simply a hollow scratched by the birds at the base of a tussock of grass, a thistle, 

 or low bush, and slightly lined with grasses, feathers, and dry leaves. The eggs are 

 among the most remarkable produced by any living bird. They vary in number 

 in the different species from five to eight to twelve or sixteen, or possibly when 

 of the latter number, one or more females may lay in the same nest. They are 

 elliptical in shape, and have the shell polished until it appears like a piece of 

 highly burnished metal or glazed porcelain. The color, which seems to be 

 constant for particular species, is very variable, ranging from "pale primrose to 

 sage-green or light indigo, or from chocolate-brown to pinkish-orange." The 

 minute structure of the egg-shell has been studied by a German investigator 

 with the result that they are shown to resemble the eggs of the Kiwi of New 

 Zealand most closely. The male parent is said to perform the duty of incuba- 

 tion, and the young are very soon able to care for themselves. 



Taking everything into account it appears that the Tinamous are a sort of 

 connecting link between the typical flying birds and the so-called flightless birds, 

 or those that are destitute of a keel to the breast-bone. They possess characters 

 undoubtedly relating them to each of these great groups, but they are perhaps 

 best placed among the Ratite birds, immediately succeeding the Ostriches, 

 Cassowaries, etc. About forty species of Tinamous are known, ranging in size 

 from the Little Tinamou of Brazil and Paraguay, which is only six inches in 

 length, to the Rufous or Great Tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens} of Brazil and 

 Argentina, which is fourteen inches long. They are divisible into two quite 

 well marked groups, according to the presence or absence of a distinct hind toe. 



