OP 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 (/6.) 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 Apteryx ; 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 4^ 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 — Struthio, Dromceus, 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 hues 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 

 " Grallse," 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 pecuhar 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. 2 H 



