110 TINAMOUS AND CURASSOWS. [CH. II 



of remarks can in all probability be safely made. It 

 seems to be an outlier of the Gallinaceous tribe, which is 

 itself represented in this region by two other ancient 

 families (see p. 28), the Tinamidse and the Cracidse, of 

 which of course the Tinamidse are the most ancient, 

 inasmuch as they alone of all Oarinate birds resemble the 

 Ostrich tribe in the absence of any fusion between the 

 pubes and the ischia. .The Oil-bird (Steatomis) cannot 

 perhaps lay claim to any great antiquity but it is a very 

 remarkable type of Caprimulgine bird. The Trogons and 

 Barbets are also found in the Ethiopian and Oriental 

 regions. The scarlet Ibis, and the Boatbill Cancroma — a 

 Night Heron with an enlarged beak, approaching that of 

 the African Balceniceps — are other instances of peculiar 

 South- American birds. 



The Neotropical region is divisible into four sub- 

 regions; these are (I) Chilian, (II) Brazilian, (III) 

 Mexican, (IV) West-Indian. 



I. The Chilian sub-region. This includes the whole 

 of Patagonia and the greater part of Chili; the Andes 

 divide it to the north from the Brazilian sub-region. It is 

 well marked by several groups of animals, which give it 

 a perfectly distinctive character. In the first place we 

 have the rodent family of the Chinchillidse ; the Llama, 

 Huanaco, Alpaca and Vicuna belonging to the genus Lama, 

 are as characteristic ; two genera of Armadillos, Tolypeutes ■ 

 and Ghlamydophorus, are restricted in their range to this 

 region, and it has other peculiar rodents in addition to 

 the family mentioned. Among birds the family Thino- 

 coridse with the two genera Thinocoris and Attagis, which 



