Aug. 1833. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Ill 



approached they squat close^ and then are very difficult to 

 be distinguished; so that they often rise quite unexpectedly. 

 When feeding they walk rather slowly, with their legs wide 

 apart. They dust themselves in roads and sandy places. 

 They frequent particular spots, and may be found there 

 day after day. When a pair are together, if one is shot the 

 other seldom rises ; for these birds, like partridges, only take 

 wing in a flock. In all these respects, in the muscular 

 gizzard adapted for vegetable food, in the arched beak and 

 fleshy nostrils, short legs and form of foot, the Tinochorus 

 has a close affinity with quails. But directly the bird is 

 seen flying, one^s opinion is changed; the long, pointed 

 wings, so diflerent from those in the gallinaceous order, the 

 irregular manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the 

 moment of rising, recal the idea of a snipe. The sportsmen 

 of the Beagle unanimously called it the shortbilled snipe. 

 To this genus, or rather to that of the sandpiper, it ap- 

 proaches, as Mr. Gould informs me, in the shape of its 

 wing, the length of the scapulars, the form of the tail, which 

 closely resembles that of Triuga hi/poleucos, and in the 

 general colour of the plumage. The male bird, however, 

 has a black mark on its breast, in the form of a yoke, which 

 may be compared to the horseshoe on the breast of the Eng- 

 lish partridge. The nest is said to be placed on the borders 

 of lakes, although the bird itself is an inhabitant of the 

 parched desert. 



The Tinochorus is closely related to some other South 

 American birds. Two species of the genus Attagis, are in 

 almost every respect ptarmigans in their habits ; one in 

 Tierra del Fuego, above the limits of forest land ; the other 

 just beneath the snow line on the Cordillera of Central 

 Chile. A bird of another closely-allied genus, Chionis alba, 

 which solitary species was long thought to form a family by 

 itself, is an inhabitant of the antarctic regions ; it feeds on 

 sea-weed and shells on the tidal rocks. Although not web- 

 footed, from some unaccountable taste it is frequently met 

 with far out at sea. This small family of birds is one of 



