26 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



The last figure to be introduced into tHs sketch 

 — which is not a catalogue — is that of the Rhea. 

 Glyptodon, Toxodon, Mylodon, Megatherium, have 

 passed away, leaving no descendants, and only pigmy 

 representatives if any ; but among the feathered 

 inhabitants of the pampa the grand archaic ostrich 

 of America survives from a time when there were 

 also giants among the avians. Vain as such efforts 

 usually are, one cannot he}p trying to imagine some- 

 thing of the past history of this majestic bird, before 

 man came to lead the long chase now about to end 

 so mournfully. Its fleetness, great staying powers, 

 and beautiful strategy when hunted, make it seem 

 probable that it was not without pursuers, other 

 than the felines, among its ancient enemies, long- 

 winded and tenacious of their quarry; and these 

 were perhaps of a type still represented by the 

 wolf or hound-like aguara and aguara-guazii. It 

 might be supposed that when almost all the larger 

 forms, both mammal and bird, were overtaken by 

 destruction, and when the existing rhea was on the 

 verge of extinction, these long-legged swift canines 

 changed their habits and lost their bold spirit, 

 degenerating at last into hunters of small birds and 

 mammals, on which they are said to live. 



The rhea possesses a unique habit, which is a 

 puzzle to us, although it probably once had some 

 significance— namely, that of running, when hunted, 

 with one wing raised vertically, like a great sail— a 

 veritable " ship of the wilderness." In every way 

 it is adapted to the conditions of the pampas in a 

 far greater degree than other pampean birds, only 

 excepting the rufous and spotted tinamous. Its 



