Fam. IV. THINOCORYTHIDAE.–The so-called South American Seed-Snipes are a generalized group of somewhat Fowl-like birds, with long wings and short legs. _Thinocorys rumicivorus_, of Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, and Patagonia, is yellowish-brown and black above, with whitish tips to the dark remiges and rectrices, and creamy white below with a black pectoral band, which sends a streak upwards to bifurcate round the white throat. The female has a less extensive band, and an ashy-brown fore-neck. _T. orbignianus_, of Peru, Chili, and Bolivia, differs in its grey breast with no central streak; it has a black border to the throat, and a grey nape, which is absent in the female. _Attagis gayi_, of the same countries, has grey and rufous upper parts with black spots and vermiculations, and pale cinnamon under parts, with a greyish fore-neck shewing fine black lines. _A. chimborazensis_ of Ecuador is blacker above and darker below; _A. malouina_, of the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands, has a white lower surface and a rufous chest with round black spots. These forms usually frequent hill-country, and to the north of their range even haunt the higher Andes, living on vegetable substances, and especially seeds of docks and other plants. They run with great celerity over the stony ravines or grassy plains, but they often squat or creep away from intruders; when flushed they rise sharply with twisting flight like the Snipe, and utter a similar cry. On the ground they make curious hollow or whistling noises, the flocks answering one another as they sit, and being very hard to distinguish, from their earthy coloration. The nest of _Thinocorys_ is a depression slightly lined with grass, and contains some four drab or pinkish-buff pear-shaped eggs, thickly speckled with chocolate and purplish-grey, which the female is said to cover when she leaves them, while the male anxiously keeps watch from some neighbouring stone.