EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN. 
109 
and there is reason to believe that they have 
helped to protect it, and have taken a great 
interest in the experiment. Whatever the ulti- 
mate result may be, the partial success attained 
during these few years is decidedly encouraging, 
and that for more reasons than one. In the first 
place, the bird was badly chosen for such an ex- 
periment. It belongs to the pampas of La Plata, 
to which it is restricted, and where it enjoys a 
dry, bright climate, and lives concealed in the tall 
close-growing indigenous grasses. The conditions 
of its habitat are therefore widely different from 
those of Essex, or of any part of England; and, 
besides, it has a peculiar organization, for it 
happens to be one of those animals of ancient 
types of which a few species still survive in South 
America. That so unpromising a subject as this 
large archaic tinamou should be able to maintain 
its existence in this country, even for a very few 
years, encourages one to believe that with better- 
chosen species, more highly organized, and with 
more pliant habits, such as the hazel hen of 
Europe for a game bird, success would be almost 
certain. Another circumstance connected with the 
attempted introduction of this unsuitable bird, 
even of more promise than the mere fact of the 
partial success achieved, is the great interest the 
experifnent has excited, not only among naturalists 
