OF GALLINACEOUS BIRDS AND TINAMOUS. 231 
that pitch in the Tinamou to which it arrives in that apparently ungainly but really 
very clever bird the Adjutant. The slender fibula (fb.) reaches to within 8 lines of the 
lower end of the tibia. The tarso-metatarse (tmt.) is a slender, moderately long bone, 
with well-scooped concavities for the elegant trochlear convexities of the tibia, and with 
a well-marked median knob in front. The calcaneal ridges and grooves are feebly 
developed, and there is no bony bridge, as in the Fowl, for the tendons that flex the 
toes ; the fossa leading to the interspaces between the metatarsal heads is of moderate 
size, and the shaft has none of that angularity which is seen in the Apteryx and the 
Fowl; there is no bony calcaneal sesamoid. The small inner metatarsal (h) is not so 
high up nor so large as in the Apteryz; it is as high up, but is much smaller than in 
the Fowl. The toes (dg.) agree in strength and size rather with the Red Grouse than 
with the typical bird; they do not differ much in length, as may be seen by what fol- 
lows :—heel, excluding small metatarsal, Tinamou 43 lines ; Grouse 4} lines: inner toe, 
Tinamou 13 lines ; Grouse 13 lines: mid toe, Tinamou 17 lines ; Grouse 19 lines: outer 
toe, Tinamou 13 lines; Grouse 14 lines. The toes of the Tinamou are only half the 
size, and scarcely half the strength, of those of Apteryx australis. 
Notwithstanding this tenuity, the shank and foot of the Tinamou, when considered in 
all its bearings, and with the skin upon it, is much more like what is seen in the 
Apteryx than in the Fowl. The horny scutes are strong, and the tubercles under the 
toes well developed ; the nails are not in anywise gallinaceous, but are the true and 
exact miniature of those of the great Ostriches—S¢ruthio, Dromeus, Rhea. These nails 
are curved as follows :—that of the heel looks outwards, and so does that of the outer toe ; 
the middle ‘‘ unguis ” is turned suddenly inwards, and the inner toe is bent in the same 
way, but in a less degree; in the Syrrhaptes the whole middle toe turns very much 
outwards, in the same direction as the outer toe. Still the sprawling of the toes, 
although varied in manner in the two birds, has the same reptilian significance in both. 
The coarsely developed horny sheathing of the tarsus and foot is most exaggerated on 
the back of the shank, and some of these plates are two lines across; they are 
exceedingly thick, are inversely imbricated, and of a polygonal shape. These very strong 
plates get small both below and also behind the tibial hinge; they are of a whitish 
colour, and reach round two-thirds of the circumference of the shank, impinging upon 
the front scutes, which are broad, deep, and black. 
This bird, like its proper congeners, is quite innocent of the thought of perching ; it 
squats, and that in the very manner of the Emu, Ostrich, Rhea, and Apteryx. It sits 
up like a Kangaroo—a position at times assumed by the Adjutant and other large 
“ Gralle,” but which is very characteristic of the Ostrich-tribe. Speaking teleologically, 
the armature of the shanks of this bird (its most strong and serviceable buskins) 
shows that it was made to sit in that peculiar way—a posture very much unlike that of 
the Hen when she squats, as in dusting herself or as when sitting on her nest. 
Finally, it may be remarked that, notwithstanding the upsprouting of higher characters 
VOL. V.—PART III. 2H 
