STERE ORNITHES. 
553 
indeed, they take the place in South America, where they are commonly termed 
partridges. Endowed with far less powers of flight than ordinary game-birds, the 
various species of tinamus frequent either the open grassy pampas, or seek the 
shelter of woods. The species inhabiting the Argentine pampas, as the author can 
testify from personal experience, are in the habit of skulking like rails among the 
luxuriant grass, among which they run from under the very feet of the horses. 
They can be flushed only with difficulty, although when they do rise their flight 
is exceeding noisy and violent, and soon leads to the birds exhausting themselves. 
Writing of the spotted tinamu, Mr. E. W. White states, in Misiones these birds 
partake of the colour of the soil, which “ is of a ferruginous clay, and differ herein 
completely from those of Buenos 
Ayres. They are so completely 
tame and abundant on the fine 
undulating grass - lands that 
extend hence southwards, that 
in the early morning they come 
right up to the houses, and the 
boys knock them over with 
stones.” On account of their 
confiding disposition, coupled 
with their general stupidity, and 
the excellence of their flesh, 
these birds have been well-nigh 
exterminated in many districts 
where they were formerly 
abundant; large numbers being 
taken by riding in a circle and 
capturing them with a noose. 
Generally solitary, many live in close proximity, making their whereabouts known 
to one another by their soft plaintive cries. Of all the birds of the pampas, the 
great tinamu, according to Mr. Hudson, “ is perhaps the sweetest-voiced, and sings 
with great frequency. Its song or call is heard oftenest towards the evening, and 
composed of five modulated notes, flute-like in character, very expressive, and is 
uttered by many individuals answering each other as they sit far apart concealed 
in the grass.” The crested species, which is also a regular singer, seems to associate 
in coveys; and, like the game-birds, is in the habit of dusting its plumage in the 
sandy soil. The young, whose precocity in regard to the development of feathers 
has been already mentioned, leave their parents at a very early age to shift for 
themselves. The nests are built in a hollow on the ground, beneath the shelter of 
a tussock of grass or low bush, and scantily lined with herbage and feathers. 
pentland’s tinamu. 
Extinct Patagonian Flightless Birds. 
Group Stereornithes. 
Although their intercalation between the tinamus and the ostrich-like birds 
somewhat interferes with a proper sense of the connection of those two groups, it 
