Wings ee 
so well that it is careful to fly only to that side where 
it sees a clear course It is sometimes, however, compelled 
to take wing suddenly, without considering the obstacles 
in its path; it also often miscalculates the height of an 
obstacle, so that for tinamous to meet with accidents 
when flying is very common. In the course of a short 
ride of two miles, during which several birds sprang up 
before me, I have seen three of these tinamous dash 
themselves to death against a fence close to the path, 
the height of which they had evidently misjudged. I 
have also seen a bird fly blindly against the wall of a 
house, killing itself instantly. A brother of mine told 
me of a very curious thing he once witnessed. He was 
galloping over the pampas, with a very violent wind blow- 
ing in his face, when a tinamou started up before his 
horse. The bird flew up in the air vertically, and, beat- 
ing its wings violently, and with a swiftness far exceeding 
that of its ordinary flight, continued to ascend until it 
reached a vast height, then came down again, whirling 
round and round, striking the earth a very few yards 
from the spot where it rose, and crushing itself to a pulp 
with the tremendous force of the fall. It is very easy to 
guess the cause of such an accident: while the tinamou 
struggled blindly to go forward, the violent wind, catch- 
ing the under surface of the wings, forced it upward, until 
the bird, becoming hopelessly confused, fell back to earth. 
I have often seen a swallow, gull, or hawk, soaring about 
in a high wind, suddenly turn the under surface of its 
wings to the wind and instantly shoot straight up, appar- 
ently without an effort, to a vast height, then recover 
