92 BAHIA BLANCA. [cHap, v. 
females probably could not sit, from not having finished laying.* 
I have before mentioned the great numbers of huachos, or de- 
serted eggs; so that in one day’s hunting twenty were found in 
this state. It appears odd that so many should be wasted. Does 
it not arise from the difficulty of several females associating to- 
gether, and finding a male ready to undertake the office of incu- 
bation? It is evident that there must at first be some degree of 
association between at least two females; otherwise the eggs 
would remain scattered over the wide plains, at distances far too 
great to allow of the male collecting them into one nest: some 
authors have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited for 
the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case in 
America, because the huachos, although often found addled and 
putrid, are generally whole. 
When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly 
heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called 
Avestruz Petise. They described it as being less than the com- 
mon ostrich (which is there abundant), but with a very close 
general resemblance. They said its colour was dark and mottled, 
and that its legs were shorter, and feathered lower down than 
those of the common ostrich. It is more easily caught by the 
bolas than the other species. The few inhabitants who had seen 
both kinds, affirmed they could distinguish them apart from a 
long distance. The eggs of the small species appeared, however, 
more generally known; and it was remarked, with surprise, that 
they were very little less than those of the Rhea, but of a slightly 
different form, and with a tinge of pale blue. This species occurs 
most rarely on the plains bordering the Rio Negro; but about a 
degree and a half further south they are tolerably abundant. 
When at Port Desire, in Patagonia (lat. 48°), Mr. Martens 
shot an ostrich; and I looked at it, forgetting at the moment, 
in the most unaccountable manner, the whole subject of the 
Petises, and thought it was a not full-grown bird of the com- 
mon sort. It was cooked and eaten before my memory returned. 
* Lichtenstein, however, asserts (Trayels, vol. ii. p. 25) that the hens begin 
sitting when they have laid ten or twelve eggs; and that they continue 
laying, I presume, in another nest. This appears to me very improbable. 
He asserts that four or five hens associate for incubation with one cock. who 
sits only at night. 
