230 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



find the advantage of domesticating the birds the 

 life histories of which they wish to learn : may it 

 come before all the most interesting species on the 

 globe are extinct ! 



COMMON RHEA 



Rhea americana 



Above, head blackish; neck whitish, becoming black at the base 

 of the neck and between the shoulders; rest slatey grey; beneath, 

 throat and upper neck whitish, becoming black at the base of the neck, 

 whence arise two black lateral crescents, one on either side of the 

 upper breast ; rest of under surface whitish ; front of tarsus through- 

 out covered with broad transverse scutes ; length about 53 inches. 



The Common Rhea (called Nandu in the Guarani 

 language, Chaeki by the pampas Indians, and Ostrich 

 by Europeans) is found throughout the Argentine 

 Republic down to the Rio Negro in Patagonia, and, 

 in decreasing numbers, to a considerable distance 

 south of that river. Until within very recent times 

 it was very abundant on the pampas, and I can 

 remember the time when it was common within 

 forty miles of Buenos Ayres city. But it is now 

 becoming rare, and those who wish to have a hand 

 in its extermination must go to a distance of three 

 or four hundred miles from the Argentine capital 

 before they can get a sight of it. 



The Rhea is peculiarly well adapted, in its size, 

 colour, faculties, and habits, to the conditions of 

 the level woodless country it inhabits; its lofty 

 stature, which exceeded that of any of its enemies 



