BIRDS. 119 



open ocean. Its feet are not webbed, its flight is not like that of other pelagic 

 birds, and the contents of its stomach, and structure of legs, show that it is a coast- 

 feeder. Does it frequent the floating icebergs of the Antarctic ocean, on which 

 sea-weed and other refuse is sometimes cast ? 



1. NoTHURA MAJOR. Wagl. 



Nothura major, Wagl. Syst. Av. p. sp. 4. 

 Tinamus major, Spix. Av. pi. 80. 



These birds are very common on the northern shores of the Plata. They do 

 not rise in coveys, but generally by pairs. They do not conceal themselves nearly 

 so closely as the English partridge, and hence great numbers may be seen in 

 riding across the open grassy plains. Note, a shrill whistle. It appears a very 

 silly bird : a man on horseback, by riding round and round in a circle, or rather 

 in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock on the head almost as 

 many as he pleases. The more common method is to catch them with a running 

 noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened to the end 

 of a long stick.* A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty 

 or forty in a day. The flesh of this bird, when cooked, is most delicately white, 

 but rather tasteless. 



The egg of this species, I believe, closely resembles that of the two following. 



2. Nothura minor. Wagl. 



Nothura minor, Wagl. Syst. Av. p. sp. 4. 

 Tinamus minor, Spix, Av. Br. pi. 82. 



I procured a specimen of this bird at Bahia Blanca, in northern Patagonia, 

 where it frequented the sand-dunes and the surrounding sterile plains. Its habits 

 appear similar to those of the N. major, but it lies closer and does not so readily 

 take to the wing. It is the smallest of the species mentioned in this work, and its 

 plumage is less distinctly spotted. The egg of this bird is described below. 

 Spix's specimens were obtained at Tijuco in Brazil. The figure in his work on the 

 Birds of Brazil, differs slightly from mine, in being less marked on the breast. 



3. Nothura perdicaria G. R. Gray. 



Crypturus perdicarius, Kittlitz, Vb'gel von Chili. 



This species closely resembles, in its general appearance and habits, the 



* In Heame's Travels in North America, (p. 383), it is stated that the Northern Indians shoot the varying 

 hare, which will not bear to be approached in a straight line, in an analogous manner, by walking round it in a 

 spire. The middle of the day is the best time, when the shadow of the hunter is not very long. 





