These birds are very common on the northern shores of the Plata. They do not rise in coveys, but generally by pairs. They do not conceal themselves nearly so closely as the English partridge, and hence great numbers may be seen in riding across the open grassy plains. Note, a shrill whistle. It appears a very silly bird: a man on horseback, by riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock on the head almost as many as he pleases. The more common method is to catch them with a running noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an ostrich’s feather, fastened to the end of a long stick.[23] A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty or forty in a day. The flesh of this bird, when cooked, is most delicately white, but rather tasteless. The egg of this species, I believe, closely resembles that of the two following. 2. NOTHURA MINOR. _Wagl._ Nothura minor, _Wagl._ Syst. Av. p. sp. 4. Tinamus minor, _Spix_, Av. Br. pl. 82. I procured a specimen of this bird at Bahia Blanca, in northern Patagonia, where it frequented the sand-dunes and the surrounding sterile plains. Its habits appear similar to those of the _N. major_, but it lies closer and does not so readily take to the wing. It is the smallest of the species mentioned in this work, and its plumage is less distinctly spotted. The egg of this bird is described below. Spix’s specimens were obtained at Tijuco in Brazil. The figure in his work on the Birds of Brazil, differs slightly from mine, in being less marked on the breast. 3. NOTHURA PERDICARIA. _G. R. Gray._ Crypturus perdicarius, _Kittlitz_, Vögel von Chili. This species closely resembles, in its general appearance and habits, the _N. major_, of which probably it is the analogue on the western side of the Cordillera. It is larger and has a considerably longer beak than the _N. major_; its breast is not spotted, and its abdomen has a less fulvous tinge. The _N. perdicarius_ runs on the open ground, generally a pair together, in the same unconcealed manner, as its analogue, and does not readily lie close. Flight similar, but on rising it utters a shriller whistle, of a different tone. It does not appear to be so easily caught as the Plata species. It is tolerably abundant in all parts of Chile, as far north as the valley of Guasco; but I was assured, that it has never been seen in the valley of Copiapo, although only seventy miles north of Guasco, and of a similar character. The egg is very glossy and of a peculiar colour, which, according to Werner’s nomenclature, is a palish chocolate red: length in longer axis 2·07 of an inch; shorter axis 1·495 of an inch. The egg of the _N. minor_ is of a similar colour, but a shade paler, and rather smaller; its length being 1·815, and its transverse diameter 1·3 of an inch. RHYNCHOTUS RUFESCENS. _Wagl._