TlNAMID^.- 



-BIRDS.- 



-CURSORES. 



405 



general appearance resembles the sand-grouse already 

 described. Its general colour is a light brown, darkest 

 on the back, which is also barred witli black ; the wing 

 coverts are margined with white, and marked with 

 black lines. Nothing is known of tho haljits of this 

 bird, nor of those of a second species occurring at the 

 Straits of IMagellan and in the Falkland Islands. 



Family VII.— TINAMID^. 



This, the last family of gallinaceous birds, must be 

 regarded as making a near approach to the Grails, 

 and especially to the Bustards, which, in tlieir turn, 

 appear to be the most closely allied of all the so-called 

 Waders with the birds forming the present order ; 

 indeed, by some ornithologists the Bustards are placed 

 amongst the Gallinre. In the Tiuamidje t!ie bill is 

 rather elongated, and either nearly straight or slightly 

 curved throughout, and usually rather suddenly hooked 

 at the tip ; the wings are short, rounded, and concave, 

 indicating but small powers of flight; tlie tarsi are 

 elongated, scutellated in front, reticulated on the sides, 

 and naked quite up to the articulation ; the anterior 

 toes are rather long, and the posterior ones very short, 

 and incapable of being applied to the ground. 



Tlio birds of this family are all inhabitants of South 

 America, where they are called Yiuimhus by the In- 

 dians, and Partridges or Quails by the Spanish colonists, 

 according to their size. They reside principally in the 

 open fields, but some frequent the vicinity of woods, to 

 which they then resort for shelter at night, taking up 

 llieir position upon the lower branches of the trees to 

 avoid the attacks of animals of prey. They all prefer 

 concealing themselves at the approach of danger to 

 seeking safety by their somewhat heavy and laborious 

 flight, and thus are easily knocked down with a stick, 

 or captured by means of a noose at the end of a rod, 

 when their hiding-place is discovered. They deposit 

 their eggs, generally to the number of about seven, 

 upon the ground in the midst of a tuft of herbage ; the 

 young do not long accompany tlieir parents. Their 

 food consists partly of insects and worms, and partly 



of grain ; the latter they often seek in the newly-sown 

 corn-fields. 



THE GREAT TINAMOU {Tinamtis Brasilknsls), 

 which is about eigliteen inches in length, is an inhab- 

 itant of Cayenne and Brazil, where it resides in tlie 

 woods. Its general colour is olive, spotted mth black 

 on the back and taU ; the crown of the head is reddish, 

 and the primary quills ashy gray. 



THE TATATJPA TINAMOU {Tinamus Tatmpa) is a 

 much smaller spocies than the preceding, measuring 

 only about nine inches in length ; it has the head, neck, 

 and lower surface as far as the legs, lead-gray, the 

 throat white, the upper surface brown, and the rump 

 black, with a white margin to each feather. The bill 

 is bright red, and the legs purplish. This species 

 inhabits the same regions, and has much the same 

 habits as the last ; its shyness is so great that when 

 kept in captivity it will not come out of its place of 

 concealment, even to feed, when anybody is in sight. 



THE SPOTTED TrNAMOU (Nothura maciihsa), a 

 native of Brazil and Paraguay, is captured for the 

 table ui immense quantities by himters on horseback, 

 provided with a rod from si.x to nine feet in length, 

 witli a loop at the end of it composed of the stem of 

 a feather. When the hunter discovers one of these 

 birds he rides round it, gradually coming nearer, and 

 the stupid bird sits still until the noose is placed round 

 its neck. 



THE CRESTED TINAMOTJ {Tinamotis elcgam), the 

 species which makes the nearest approach to the Bus- 

 tards in its general aspect and in the structure of its 

 feet, is a rather large bird, distinguished from all the 

 preceding species of this family by its possession of 

 an elongated crest depending from the back of the 

 head. It inhabits the pampas of Buenos Ayres, and 

 is described as being scarcely able to fly ; it exhibits 

 the same desire for concealment that is evinced by the 

 other specie when threatened wilh danger, but seeks a 

 better hiding place, making its way into the burrows 

 of the viscachas and armadillos, which inhabit these 

 extensive plains in its company, 

 and of a brilliant green colour. 



Order Vf.— CUESORES. 



Although the birds forming this order (the Ostrich 

 and its allies) have been regarded by some writers as 

 belonging to the Grallae, or Wading Birds, and by 

 others as members of the order Gallinae, it appears to 

 us that they present so many peculiarities of organiza- 

 tion as to be certainly entitled to form an independent 

 group. And this view is further supported by the fact 

 that the principal organic remains of birds which have 

 been met with in the tertiary and post-tertiary beds 

 belong to species of this type of structure, which 

 appears to have been far more widely diffused in earUer 

 periods than at the present day, so that we may justly 

 conclude that in the existing forms we have only an 

 imperfect representation of an extensive group, of 

 which the principal portion has long since become extinct. 



Tho principal characteristic of these birds consists in 

 the rudimentary nature of their wings, whicli (as shown 

 in our figure of the skeleton of the Ustrich — Plate 30, 

 fig. 135), although composed of the same bones as 

 those of other birds, are quite disproportioned to the 

 size of tlie body, and completely incapable of elevating 

 the bird into the air. In some cases these rudimentary 

 members are but imperfectly fm-nished with feathers, in 

 others they are fully plumed, but even then seem only 

 to be of use to the bird in the manner of sails, to catch 

 the wind and assist it in running. This imperfection 

 of the wings is accompanied by a modification of the 

 sternum, which, instead of exhibiting the strong keel 

 which usually occupies its centre in birds endowed 

 with the power of flight, presents the form of a convex 



