(MARTINETA TINAMOU.)
+Eudromia elegans+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 408 (San Luis,
Mendoza); _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 545 (Rio Negro). +Calodromas
elegans+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 153; _Durnford, Ibis_,
1877, p. 45 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 406 (Centr. Patagonia);
_Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 318 (Bahia Blanca).
_Description._--Above densely banded and spotted with black and pale
fulvous; head cinereous, with black striations; a long recurved
vertical crest of black feathers, partly edged with cinereous; two
lateral stripes on the head above and beneath the eye and throat
cinnamomeous white: beneath pale cinnamomeous, breast with numerous
black cross bars and black shaft-spots; belly, flanks, and under
tail-coverts with broad black cross bands; wings ashy black, with
numerous cross bands of pale cinnamomeous; bill blackish; feet
bluish grey: whole length 14·5 inches, wing 8·3, tail 3·0. _Female_
similar.
_Hab._ Northern Patagonia and Western Argentina.
This fine game bird in its size and mottled plumage resembles the
_Rhynchotus rufescens_ of the pampas, which it represents in the
Patagonian district south of the Rio Colorado. It differs externally in
the more earthy hue of its plumage, which is protective and harmonizes
admirably with the colour of its sterile surroundings; also in having a
shorter beak, and in being adorned with a long slender black crest,
which, when excited, the bird carries directed forwards like a horn.
There is, however, an anatomical difference, which seems to show that
the two species are not very near relations. The structure of the
intestinal canal in the Martineta is most peculiar, and unlike that of
any other bird I have ever dissected: the canal divides near the stomach
into a pair of great ducts which widen towards the middle and extend
almost the entire length of the abdominal cavity, and are thickly set
with rows of large membranous claw-shaped protuberances.
The Martineta inhabits the elevated tablelands, and is found chiefly
where patches of scattered dwarf scrub occur among the thorny thickets.
Apparently they do not require water, as they are met with in the driest
situations where water never collects. They are extremely fond of
dusting themselves, and form circular, nest-like hollows in the ground
for that purpose; these hollows are deep and neatly made, and are
visited every day by the same birds throughout the year. They live
in coveys of from half a dozen to twenty or thirty birds, and when
disturbed do not as a rule take to flight at once, but jump up one
after another and run away with amazing swiftness, uttering as they run
shrill, squealing cries, as if in the greatest terror. Their flight,
although violent, is not so sounding as that of the Pampas Tinamou
(_Rhynchotus_), and differs remarkably in another respect. Every twenty
or thirty yards the wings cease beating and remain motionless for a
second, when the bird renews the effort; thus the flight is a series of
rushes rather than a continuous rush like that of the _Rhynchotus_. It
is also accompanied with a soft wailing note, which appears to die away
and swell again as the flapping of the wings is renewed.
The call-note of the Martineta is never heard in winter; but in the
month of September they begin to utter in the evening a long, plaintive,
slightly modulated whistle, the birds sitting concealed and answering
each other from bush to bush. As the season advances the coveys break
up, and their call is then heard on every side, and often all day long,
from dawn until after dark. The call varies greatly in different birds,
from a single whistle to a performance of five or six notes, resembling
that of _Rhynchotus_, but inferior in compass and sweetness. They begin
to breed in October, making the nest in the midst of a small isolated
bush. The eggs vary in number from twelve to sixteen; they are
elliptical in form, of a beautiful deep green in colour, and have
highly polished shells.
It is probable, I think, that this species possesses some curious
procreant habits, and that more than one female lays in each nest; but
owing to the excessive wariness of the bird in a state of nature it is
next to impossible to find out anything about it. No doubt the day will
come when naturalists will find the advantage of domesticating the birds
the life-histories of which they wish to learn: may it come before all
the most interesting species on the globe are extinct!
Order XX. STRUTHIONES.
Fam. LIV. RHEIDÆ, or RHEAS.
The Order of Struthious Birds or Ostriches is represented in South
America by the Nandu or Rhea, which is at once distinguished from the
African Ostrich (_Struthio_) by having three toes instead of two, as
also by many other important points of structure.
Both the known species of _Rhea_ are found within our limits.