AMERICAN RHEA. 
437 
two feet and three quarters in length, furnished 
with three toes, all placed forwards, and the rudi- 
ment of a fourth behind* 
This bird appears to be most numerous in the 
vicinity of the lake Nahuelguapi, in the valley 
of the Andes : it is also abundant, according to 
Faulkner, Wallis, and others, in Patagonia. It 
lives on fruits, and like the Ostrich, devours any 
thing offered to it : its favourite food is flies, 
which it catches very nimbly : when attacked, it 
defends itself by kicking with its feet, either behind 
or before : the female is said to lay from forty to 
sixty eggs, on the bare ground ^ ; they contain 
about two pounds of liquid each. When it calls 
its young it gives a kind of whistle : its feathers 
are in great request by the Indians. 
^Probably this^ species, like the rest of the order, is poly- 
gamous, and each female deposits a dozen or more eggs in the 
same place,. 
