1862.] OF PTEROCLES, SYRRHAPTES, AND TINAMUS. 257 
«««This small family of birds is one of those which, from its varied 
relations to other families, although at present offering only diffi- 
culties to the systematic naturalist, ultimately may assist in revealing 
the grand scheme, common to the present and past ages, on which 
organized beings have been created.’ 
** Thinocorus rumicivorus partakes, according to this excellent 
author, ‘ of the characters, different as they are, of the Quail and the 
Snipe’ (ibid. p. 94). 
“As to the Attagis, Mr. Darwin says (p. 94), ‘The two species 
of this genus are in almost every respect Ptarmigans in their habits ;’ 
and of Chionis alba, that it ‘is an inhabitant of the Antarctic re- 
gions,’ that ‘it feeds on sea-weed and shells on the tidal rocks,’ and 
that, ‘although not web-footed, from some unaccountable habit, it is 
frequently met with far out at sea’ (ibid. p. 94). 
** Will some lover of ornithology be on the look-out to procure 
something more than the skins of the birds of these three genera ?* 
“It would tend towards our knowledge of the meaning of these 
birds of mixed character and osculant relationship, if we knew how 
long each type has been on the planet; for if our Fowls and Pea- 
cocks, Doves and Gouras, are really comparatively new importations 
to the ‘ green earth,’ then there would be some colour and life in 
‘ Darwinism,’ and the Ostriches, Tinamous, and Sand-Grouse might 
be looked upon as a remnant of the ‘ flint-folk’ of the bird-class. 
‘Tt is, however, almost impossible for the most devout believer in 
Separate creations to keep this idea of ‘ancestral relationship’ alto- 
gether out of his mind when considering such birds as those we are 
speaking of: at any rate, dogmatism on either side, on a subject so 
far beyond the reach of our feeble faculties and limited knowledge, 
has in it something of profanity. I have, up to this time, only been 
able to get a sight of the skeletons of Pterocles arenarius (see Osteol. 
Cat. Mus. Coll. Chir. vol. i. p. 273, No. 1421), of Hemipodius varius 
(ibid. p. 274, No. 1423), of a specimen of an undetermined species 
of Hemipodius (which died soon after its arrival at the Gardens, and 
was lent to me by Mr. Gerrard), and of a Syrrhaptes paradoxus 
and a Tinamus robustus, for which I am indebted to the Council of 
this Society. 
*T shall now merely indicate the curious composition, so to speak, 
of these birds, and begin with that of the Sand-Grouse. 
«These beautiful and gentle birds are seen at once to have in them 
something both of the Ptarmigan and the Pigeon; but there is in 
their physiognomy a marked inferiority ef expression, quite in con- 
trast with the sharp, intelligent look of the typical Fowls, and very 
much below what we see in the Pigeon-tribe. 
«This is exactly in harmony with what the skeleton reveals; for 
whilst the characters of both these types are almost inextricably 
interwoven, yet there is in many points a marked inferiority of cha- 
racter—a less degree of elevation above the Struthious style of struc- 
ture. What there is of the Bustard (Otis) in them (which Pro- 
* There is a skeleton of Chionis, I find, in the British Museum, 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1862, No. XVII. 
