Tinamd^e.- 
- BIRDS. 
-CURSORES. 
405 
general appearance resembles the sand-grouse already 
described. Its general colour is a light brown, darkest 
on the back, which is also barred with black; the wing 
coverts are margined with white, and marked with 
black lines. Nothing is known of the habits of this 
bird, nor of those of a second species occurring at the 
Straits of Magellan and in the Falkland Islands. 
Family VIL— TINAMIDiE. 
This, the last family of gallinaceous birds, must be 
regarded as making a near approach to the Grallae, 
and especially to the Bustards, which, in their turn, 
appear to be the most closely allied of all the so-called 
Waders with the birds forming the present order ; 
indeed, by some ornithologists the Bustards are placed 
amongst the Gallinae. In the Tinamidie the bill is 
rather elongated, and either nearly straight or slightly 
curved throughout, and usually rather suddenlj" hooked 
at the tip ; the wings are short, rounded, and concave, 
indicating but small powers of flight; the tarsi are 
elongated, scutellated in front, reticulated on the sides, 
and naked quite up to the articulation ; the anterior 
toes are rather long, and the posterior ones very short, 
and incapable of being applied to the ground. 
The birds of this family are all inhabitants of South 
America, where they are called Ynambus by the In- 
dians, and Partridge or Quails by the Spanish colonists, 
according to their size. They reside principally in the 
open fields, but some frequent the vicinity of woods, to 
which they then resort for shelter at night, taking up 
their position upon the lower branches of the trees to 
avoid the attacks of animals of prey. They all prefer 
concealing themselves at the approach of danger to 
seeking safety by their somewhat heavy and laborious 
flight, and thus are easily knocked down with a stick, 
or captured by means of a noose at the end of a rod, 
when their hiding-place is discovered. They deposit 
their eggs, generally to the number of about seven, 
upon the ground in the midst of a tuft of herbage ; the 
young do not long accompany their parents. Their 
food consists partly of insects and worms, and partly 
of grain ; the latter they often seek in the newly-sown 
corn-fields. 
THE GREAT TIHAMOH {Tinamm Brasil.ieiisis), 
which is about eighteen inches in length, is an inhab- 
itant of Cayenne and Brazil, where it resides in the 
woods. Its general colour is olive, spotted with black 
on the back and tail ; the crown of the head is reddish, 
and the primary quills ashy gray. 
THE TATAHPA TIHAMOH {Tinamus Tataupa) is a 
much smaller species than the preceding, measuring 
only about nine inches in length; it has the head, neck, 
and lower surface as far as the legs, lead-gray, the 
throat white, the upper surface brown, and the rump 
black, with a white margin to each feather. Tlie bill 
is bright red, and the legs purplish. This species 
inhabits the same regions, and has much the same 
habits as the Mst ; its shyness is so great that when 
kept in capti\dty it will not come out of its place of 
concealment, even to feed, when anybody is in sight. 
THE SPOTTED TINAMOU {Nothura maculosa), a 
native of Brazil and Paraguay, is captured for the 
table in immense quantities by hunters on horseback, 
provided with a rod from six to nine feet in length, 
with a loop at the end of it composed of the stem of 
a feather. When the hunter discover one of these 
birds he rides round it, gradually coming nearer, and 
the stupid bird sits still until the noose is placed round 
its neck. 
THE CRESTED TIHAMOU {Tinamotis elegans), the 
species which makes the nearest approach to the Bus- 
tards in its general aspect and in the structure of its 
feet, is a rather lai'ge bird, distinguished from all the 
preceding species of this family by its possession of 
an elongated crest depending from the back of the 
head. It inhabits the pampas of Buenos Ayres, and 
is described as being scarcely able to fly ; it exhibits 
the same desire for concealment that is evinced b}^ the 
other specie when threatened with danger, but seeks a 
better hiding place, making its way into the burrows 
of the viscachas and armadillos, which inhabit these 
extensive plains in its company. Its eggs are large, 
and of a brilliant green colour. 
Order VI.— CURSORES. 
Although the birds forming this order (the Ostrich 
and its allies) have been regarded by some writers as 
belonging to the Grallae, or Wading Birds, and by 
others as members of the order Gallinae, it appears to 
us that they present so many peculiarities of organiza- 
tion as to be certainly entitled to form an independent 
group. And this view is further supported by the fact 
that the principal organic remains of birds which have 
been met with in the tertiary and post-tertiary beds 
belong to species of this type of structure, which 
appears to have been far more widely diffused in earlier 
periods than at the present day, so that we may justly 
conclude that in the existing forms we have only an 
imperfect representation of an extensive group, of 
which the principal portion has long since become extinct. 
The piincipal characteristic of these birds consists in 
the rudimentary nature of their wings, which (as shown 
in our figuie of the skeleton of the Ostrich — Plate 31, 
fig. 135), although composed of the same bones as 
those of other birds, are quite disproportioned to the 
size of the body, and completely incapable of elevating 
the bird into the air. In some cases these rudimentary 
members are but imperfectly furnished with feathers, in 
others they are fully plumed, but even then seem only 
to be of use to the bird in the mariner of sails, to catch 
the wind and assist it in running. This imperfection 
of the wings is accompanied by a modification of the 
sternum, which, instead of exhibiting the strong keel 
which usually occupies its centre in birds endowed 
with the power of flight, presents the form of a convex 
