188 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



present time, or till quite recently these birds have 

 bred every year, and at one time they had in- 

 creased considerably and scattered about the 

 neighbourhood. When it began to increase, the 

 neighbouring proprietors and sportsmen generally 

 were asked not to shoot it, but to give it a chance, 

 and there is reason to believe that they have 

 helped to protect it, and have taken a great in- 

 terest in the experiment. Whatever the ultimate 

 result may be, the partial success attained during 

 these few years is decidedly encouraging, and that 

 for more reasons than one. In the first place, the 

 bird was badly chosen for such an experiment. It 

 belongs to the pampas of La Plata, to which it is 

 restricted, and where it enjoys a dry, bright 

 climate, and lives concealed in the tall close-grow- 

 ing indigenous grasses. The conditions of its 

 habitat are therefore widely different from those 

 of Essex, or of any part of England; and, be- 

 sides, it has a peculiar organisation, for it hap- 

 pens to be one of those animals of ancient types 

 of which a few species still survive in South 

 America. That so unpromising a subject as this 

 large archaic tinamou should be able to maintain 

 its existence in this country, even for a very few 



