All riohls 1-eseived.'] June, 1909. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 
J^Yic IRufous ZTinamou. 
(^Rhyncotus rufescens). 
By W. E. Teschemaker, B.A. 
Some years since I had an argument with a relative of 
mine, who has made his home near Buenos Ayres, he upholding 
the claims of the duck and game-shooting of the Argentine, and 
the writer maintaining that no game-bird to be found in any part 
of the world can give as good sport to the gun as our English 
Red-grouse or Partridge. The claims of certain Argentine 
"partridges" were stoutly upheld, and finallj^ my cousin was 
challenged to send some of the latter home so that they might 
prove their merits on English soil. I thought no more about the 
matter until the 15th March last, when I found a letter on my 
breakfast table informing me that four "Martineta Partridges" 
would shortly reach me. One evening, a day or two later, the 
"partridges" arrived and after dinner we went into the kitchen 
to have a look at them. 
Now the Argentine is a progressive country of large ideas 
and, knowing my cousin to be a man of large ideas even for the 
Argentine, I thought it probable that we should find them some- 
what more spaciously packed than the unhappy Tanagers and 
Cardinals which are shipped from South American ports in such 
quantities, but I was certainly not prepared for what I saw. 
There in the centre of my small kitchen, which it appeared to 
entirel}' fill, was a large packing case (see photo) wired in front, 
measuring 5 ft. by 3 ft. by 3 ft. and with a stout door securely 
fastened by huge padlock. Inside the packing case were four 
large Tinamous in fine condition and wonderfully tame. 
I was a little puzzled as to the species to which they 
belonged. It was obvious they were not the Martineta Tinamou, 
