96 ^ BAHIA BLANCA chap. 



eggs, each at the interval of three days one from another. If the 

 hen was obh'ged to hatch her own eggs, before the last was laid 

 the first probably would be addled ; but if each laid a few eggs 

 at successive periods, in different nests, and several hens, as is 

 stated to be the case, combined together, then the eggs in one 

 collection would be nearly of the same age. If the number 

 of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe, not greater on an 

 average than the number laid by one female in the season, then 

 there must be as many nests as females, and each cock bird 

 will have its fair share of the labour of incubation ; and that 

 during a period when the females probably could not sit, from 

 not having finished laying.-^ I have before mentioned the great 

 numbers of huachos, or deserted eggs ; so that in one 

 day's hunting twenty were found in this state. It appears odd 

 that so many should be wasted. Does it not arise from the 

 difficulty of several females associating together, and finding a 

 male ready to undertake the office of incubation ? It is evident 

 that there must at first be some degree of association 

 between at least two females ; otherwise the eggs would remain 

 scattered over the wide plains, at distances far too great to 

 allow of the male collecting them into one nest : some authors 

 have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited for the 

 young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case in 

 America, because the huachos, although often found addled and 

 putrid, are generally whole. 



When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly 

 heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called 

 Avestruz Petise. They described it as being less than the common 

 ostrich (which is there abundant), but with a very close general 

 resemblance. They said its colour was dark and mottled, and 

 that its legs were shorter, and feathered lower down than those 

 of the common ostrich. It is more easily caught by the 

 bolas than the other species. The few inhabitants who had 

 seen both kinds, affirmed they could distinguish them apart 

 from a long distance. The eggs of the small species appeared, 

 however, more generally known ; and it was remarked, with 



1 Liclitenstein, however, asserts {Travels, vol. ii. p. 25) that the hens begin 

 sitting when they have laid ten or twelve eggs ; and that they continue laying, I 

 presume in another nest. This appears to me very improbable. He asserts that 

 four or five hens associate for incubation with one cock, who sits only at night. 



