lu , 



they will contain about two pounds of liquor. The 

 feathers are employed for many purposes ; the In- 

 dians make of them plumes, parasols, &c. M. de , 

 Pauw, who frequently loses sight of the title of his 

 work, represents the cheuque as a degenerate species 

 of the African ostrich, because it has three toes in- 

 stead of two ; but were these birds of the same 

 species, which is far from being the case, I am of 

 opinion that the term degenerate would be more ap- 

 plicable to the African ostrich, as being less perfect 

 in its limbs, than to that of America. 



The pequen (strix cunicularia) a species óf the 

 owl, is remarkable for the large burrows which it 

 digs in the ground to deposit its eggs. Feuille 

 asserts that he himself had endeavoured to dig 

 to the end of one of them, but was obliged to 

 relinquish the attempt. This bird is of the size of 

 a pigeon, but its beak is very strong and crooked, it 

 has large nostrils, and large ey^^s with a yellow iris ; 

 the upper part of its body is grey, spotted with white, 

 the lower part of a dirty white ; the tail, which 

 scarcely extends beyond the quills of the wings, is 

 of the same colour ; its thighs are covered witl> fea- 

 thers, and the feet with tubercles, upon which are 

 some short hairs ; the toes are strong, and armed 

 with black crooked talons. It is not so averse to 

 light as others of its species, and is frequently seen 

 by day in company with the female, near the mouth 

 of its hole. Its principal food is insects and reptiles, 

 the remains of which are often found in small frag- 

 ments before its hole. Its cry is lugubrious and 

 broken, and imitative of its name. The eggs are 



