Bulletin - United States National Museum - si-pddr - Smithsonian ...

42 BULLETIN 133, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
Near Lavalle, in eastern Buenos Aires, the species had been ex-
terminated on the fertile, pastured uplands, but was common in a
desert stretch of sand dunes lying parallel to the beach below Cabo
San Antonio. From November 3 to 8, while camped in a small
hut in this region, I found the birds in comparative abundance. For
two days during a tremendous storm the tinamou, discouraged by
the downpour of rain, were entirely silent, but later when the
weather cleared after the temporal they sang from all sides. By
following the note it was usually simple to locate a pair and by
startling them to force them to wing. The flight is swift but heavy
and direct, so that they are easily killed. At this season they were
breeding, as females taken contained eggs ready to lay.
While crossing on a train near Sierra de la Ventana on November
21 I noticed a number of pairs walking quietly about in the bunch
grass that covered the pastures. On December 17 near Carhue I
heard several calling from growths of thistles below the crest of
a hill, where the birds were sheltered from wind, but though the
musical, somewhat labored calls came from near at hand, the tinamou
retreated through the dense growth as I advanced, and I did
not catch sight of them. On March 3 and 4, 1921, the species was
heard calling at long intervals near Guamini. It is said that these
birds can not compete with the crested tinamou, Calopezus elegaTis^
so that when the latter invades a region the rufous-winged bird
disappears.
In Uruguay the note of the rufous-winged tinamou was heard
on February 2, 1921, at the Bahado de la India Muerta, south of
Lazcano, but none were seen.
This tinamou is hunted with dogs, and it is claimed that after
the bird makes two or three flights it is exhausted and may be taken
by hand. Be this as it may, I can testify that the initial flight is
vigorous. The flesh of the rufous-winged tinamou is white in
color and delicious in flavor, far exceeding in taste that of the other
species that I encountered. The bird is so heavy that the tender
muscles of the breast are frequently split as it falls to the ground
when shot. The caeca of this species are long, slender, and cylin-
drical in form, entirely different from those of Calopezus.
Order SPHENISCIFORMES
Family SPHENISCIDAE
SPHENISCUS MAGELLANICUS (Forster)
Aptenodytes tnagcllaniGa FoKSTEnt, Comm. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingensis,
vol. 3, 1781, p. 143, pi. 5. (Staten Island, Tierra del Fuego, aud the
Falkland Islands.)
On January 23, 1921, I found over 100 dried bodies of penguins
cast up on the beach at La Paloma, Uruguay, and carried away one