CHAPTER XXI. 
The Tin am us, Flightless Birds, Etc. 
Groups Crypturi, Stereornithes, Ratuue, Odontornithes, and Saurur^e. 
South America is the exclusive home of a group of birds which, 
Tinamus. . . . ® 1 
while resembling the game-birds to a great extent in outward 
appearance and habits, present a peculiarity in the structure of the bony palate of 
the skull by which they are distinguished from all the birds hitherto described, 
and thus approximate to the ostriches. These birds are the tinamus, constituting 
the order Crypturi and the family Tinamidce, and are represented by thirty-nine 
species arranged under nine genera. That the tinamus are allied on the one hand 
to the game-birds, and on the other to the ostrich-like birds, seems most probable; 
and it is not unlikely that the type of palatal structure they display is the primitive 
one from which the others have originated. 
Partridge, or quail-like, in general appearance, the tinamus have small heads, 
with short, slender, curved beaks; strong, naked legs and feet, in which the first 
toe is either small or represented merely by its claw; and short, rudimentary tails, 
which are frequently concealed by the coverts; the wings being also short and 
rounded. They are specially characterised by the circumstance that while the 
narrow breast-bone has a well-developed keel, like that of the game-birds, in the 
palate of the skull, which is of the cleft or schizognathous type, the vomer, or 
median element, is fused with the bones immediately in front and behind it, namely, 
with the maxillo-palatines in front and with the palatines and pterygoids behind, 
in which respect they approximate to the ostriches. A further resemblance to 
that group is afforded by the circumstance that the last few vertebrae of the tail 
do not coalesce to form a ploughshare-shaped bone. In the skull the apertures of 
the nostrils resemble those of the game-birds in their oval (holorhinal) shape; 
while on its under surface the sphenoidal rostrum bears well-developed basiptery- 
goicl processes. In the plumage the feathered tracts, both on the neck and else¬ 
where, are well distinguished from the bare intervening areas; the after-shafts of the 
feathers are rudimentary; there are ten primary quills in the wings; and the oil- 
gland is tufted. The young are active almost immediately after hatching, and are 
remarkable for the rapidity with which they acquire their full plumage; being, in 
fact, able to fly more rapidly than the adults. The general colour of the plumage 
is deep yellowish, marked above with bars of dark brown and black. The eggs of 
all the species are remarkable for their highly polished surface, which resembles a 
piece of glazed porcelain, the colour being either wine-red or bluish green. As 
regards food, the tinamus are vegetable-feeders. Since all the members of the 
family are very similar in general structure, it will be unnecessary to point out the 
