252 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



South America, and would probably be the means of pre- 

 serving this interesting bird from the total extinction by 

 which it is menaced ; the slaughter of late years, for the sake 

 of the feathers, averaging, according to Mr Harting, about 

 400,000 per annum, the consequence of which has been, that 

 the species has already disappeared from nearly half of the 

 district of the river Plate. The export of feathers from 

 Argentine ports in 1874, was about sixty tons, of the value 

 of £26,537. Two-thirds of these were sent to Havre. The 

 cock bird is somewhat larger than the hen, and, curious to 

 relate, performs the duty of hatching and tending the young, 

 a fact which is also related of the emu. Several females lay 

 in one nest, all of whose eggs are thus hatched. The number 

 of the eggs in the nest varies from twenty to forty or fifty, 

 and, according to Azara, even to seventy or eighty. He in- 

 cidentally mentions the number laid by a female, in confine- 

 ment, to be about seventeen. A great number of eggs are 

 also laid, scattered over the country, deserted by the birds. 

 These are called by the natives, who use them for food, 

 " huachos." They are said to keep a long time, and to be 

 very palatable. The cock bird sits very close upon the nest, 

 and is said at times to attack those w^ho approach it. A late 

 traveller, Mr J. Beerbohm, mentions that, if one Qgg even is 

 broken, or abstracted from the nest during the absence of the 

 male bird, he will, on returning, at once detect the theft, and 

 become so furious, that he w^ill smash the remaining eggs to 

 pieces, and dance frantically round the nest. This curious 

 fact is confirmed by my correspondent at Tala, who informs 

 me that, disbelieving this, only six eggs of the forty-one 

 which it contained were taken from the nest mentioned 

 below, and on returning the next day, the whole remaining 

 thirty-five w^ere found dashed to pieces by the indignant 

 bird. The rhea is easily tamed, and stands the climate of 

 this country, Avith almost no protection in winter. A gentle- 

 man of my acquaintance, in the south of Scotland, has had 

 them alive in his possession for some years. 



Six eggs, taken from a nest in the campo at Tala, on 2d 

 December 1879. The nest contained forty-one eggs. 



These six eggs average nearly 5x4 inches in size, and are 



