Mar., 1908 69 



NOTES ON THE RHEA OR SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH 



By SAMUElv ADAMS 



THE market place of a South American city abounds with interest for the trav- 

 eller. Here under one roof are piled in profusion the varied fruits and vege- 

 tables, meats, fish and game of the locality, and they are sure to interest the 

 newcomer, appealing either to his tastes or his curiosity. T was especially anxious 

 for some reason or other to taste a rhea's egg after seeing one in the market, and 

 when I did I made a meal of it and regretted what I had done for several hours 

 after. The flesh of the rhea like its eggs is very rich and gamy, and with a novice 

 a little goes a long way. 



There are two species of Rhea. The larger, Rhea americana, ranges from 

 Southern Brazil and Paraguay southward thru Uruguay and northern Argentina in- 

 to Patagonia, southern Argentina, as far south as the Rio Negro. Rhea dai'xviui, 

 the smaller of the two, is a Patagonian bird, overlapping the range of the other on 

 the south and extending as far as the Straits of Magellan. In their habits the 



SOME RHEAS FEEDING ON ONE OE THE FARMS; A SHEEP GRAZING NEAR TWO OF THEM* 



two birds are said to be practically alike, and their appearance does not differ greatly. 

 The general color is a dark grey, the tips of the back feathers and the quills being- 

 white. I have seen a rhea in a menagerie, the back and wings of which were a 

 solid white. Whether this bird was a freak or another species, I am not prepared 

 to say as I have never seen it described. At a distance the dusky cast of the south- 

 ern bird blends with the Patagonian landscape and makes its detection at times 

 almost impossible. The males of both species are slightly darker than the females, 

 but it takes an experienced eye to tell them apart at a distance. The plumes of the 

 rhea are adapted to some uses in millinery but they are very filmy and in no way 

 compare with those of the African ostrich. They are chiefly used to make dusters 

 and bed fillers. The rhea stands about three feet in height at the back and his 

 foot-and-a-half neck brings his eyes some fifty inches from the ground. 



In so desolate a region as Patagonia one might wonder what the rhea finds to 

 eat the year around; doubtless many do starve in southern Patagonia during the 

 severe winters when there is sufficient snow to keep them from the grass. In the 

 summer months there are plenty of big black beetles and green grass and plants to 

 keep them fat, and with the exception of Patagonia their range affords all the sus- 

 tenance that is required at any season of the year. The rhea is a constant feeder in 



