THE LIVING WORLD. 
449 
construction of the windpipe. The legs of this bird are shorter and stouter 
in proportion than those of the ostrich, and the wings are very short, and so 
small that when they lie closely against the body they can hardly be distin¬ 
guished from the general plumage. 
The nest of the emeu is made by scooping a shallow hole in the ground 
in some scrubby spot, and in this depression a variable number of eggs are 
laid. Dr. Bennett remarks that “there is always an odd number, some nests 
having been discovered with nine, others with eleven, and others, again, with 
thirteen.” The color of the eggs is, while fresh, a rich green, of varying 
quality, but after the shells are emptied and exposed to the light, the beautiful 
green hue fades into an unwholesome greenish brown. The parent birds sit 
RHEA, OR SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH AND HER YOUNG. 
upon their eggs, as has been related of the ostrich. The emeu is not polyga¬ 
mous, one male being apportioned to a single female. 
The Rhea {Rhea americanus ) is a species of struthious birds found only 
in South America, being particularly abundant in the La Plata region, and 
south as far as Patagonia. Like the ostrich, it is gregarious and wonderfully 
swift of foot, but its fleetness is of little advantage because of its habit of 
running in circles, so that expert hunters, when well mounted, easily come 
within shooting range, or ride the bird down. The Patagonians hunt the 
rhea on horseback, and with no other weapon than the “ bolas,” which is made 
by sewing a ball of lead into each end of a leather card several feet long, • 
though sometimes the cord is short, not exceeding three feet. Mr. Barrows 
has thus described a hunt of the rhea, or South American ostrich, of which he 
was a spectator: 
“ During our stay at Puan, about three hundred Indians united in a two 
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