very few yards from the spot where it rose, and crushing itself to a pulp with the tremendous force of the fall. It is very easy to guess the cause of such an accident: while the Tinamou struggled blindly to go forward, the violent wind, catching the under surface of the wings, forced it upwards, until the poor bird, becoming hopelessly confused, fell back to earth. I have often seen a swallow, gull, or hawk, soaring about in a high wind, suddenly turn the under surface of its wings to the wind and instantly shoot straight up, apparently without an effort, to a vast height, then recover itself, and start off in a fresh direction. The Tinamou, when once launched on the atmosphere, is at the mercy of chance; nevertheless, had this incident been related to me by a stranger, I should not have recorded it. This Tinamou is frequently run down and caught by well-mounted Gaucho boys; the bird frequently escapes into a kennel in the earth, but when it sees no refuge before it and is hotly pursued, it sometimes drops dead. When caught in the hand they "feign death" or swoon, but on being released quickly recover their faculties. The nest is a slight hollow scratched in the ground under a thistle or in the grass, and lined with a few dry leaves. The number of eggs laid varies from five to eight. These are elliptical, with polished shells, and as a rule are of a wine-purple colour; but the hue varies somewhat, some eggs having a reddish tinge and others a deep liver-colour. 431. NOTHURA DARWINI, Gray. (DARWIN'S TINAMOU.) [Plate XX.] [Illustration: NOTHURA DARWINI.] +Nothura minor+, _Darwin, Zool. Voy. 'Beagle,'_ iii. p. 119 (Bahia Blanca). +Nothura darwini+, _Gray, List of Gall. B. M._ p. 104 (1867); _Scl. P. Z. S._ 1872. p. 547. +Nothura maculosa+, _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 45 (Chupat). +Nothura perdicaria+, _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 405 (Centr. Patagonia). _Description._--Above cinereous; feathers of head and back marked with narrow black and fulvous cross bands and margined with bright ashy-white edgings; wings ashy black, crossed on both webs by fulvous bands, except in the two outer primaries: beneath pale fulvous, throat white; breast more cinereous, and densely covered with indistinct black and brown cross bars and whitish-grey streaks; flanks and lower belly with irregular black cross bars; bill horn-colour; lower mandible and feet yellowish: whole length 8·5 inches, wing 5·4, tail 2·4. _Hab._ Northern Patagonia.