ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE TINAMOUS
(Order Crypturiformes)
THE New World, from the southern portions of Mexico to the extremity of South America, is the home of a remarkable group of land birds known asTinamous (tinamoos). They have a strong superficial resemblance to the game-birds, and in fact are usually called Partridges in the countries where they live, and for a long time were supposed by ornithologists to be related to the game-birds, but comparatively recent studies have settled the fact that there is little or no real relationship between them.
They have compact bodies, and rather short stout legs, while the head is small, the mouth split to under the eyes, and the neck rather long and slender. The wings are short and rounded and the tail-feathers short, or even altogether absent. In general the color of the plumage is deep yellowish or brownish, marked above with dark brown and black bars, and interspersed among the feathers are numerous powder-downs, or feathers which are continually breaking off the tips into a fine powder-like substance. The Tinamous have quite a well-developed keel to the breast-bone but possess only limited powers of flight.
They are, however, very rapid runners and can rarely be forced to take to wing. When they do, they may fly for one or two thousand yards, and may repeat flights of this distance once or twice, but then their endurance fails and they can fly no more. Hudson, writing of their flight, says: “The bird rises up when almost trodden upon, rushing into the air with a noise and violence that fill one with astonishment. It continues to rise at a decreasing angle for fifty or sixty yards, then gradually nearing the earth, till, when it has got to a distance of two or three hundred yards, the violent action of the wing ceases, and the bird glides along close to the earth for some distance, and either drops down or renews its flight.
The Tinamou starts forward with such amazing energy until this is expended and the moment of gliding comes, that the flight is just as ungovernable to the bird as the motion of a brakeless engine, rushing along at full speed, would be to the driver. The bird knows the danger to which this peculiar character of its flight exposes it so well that it is careful to fly only to that side where it sees a clear course. It is sometimes, however, compelled to take wing suddenly, without considering the obstacles in its path. In the course of a short ride of ten miles, during which several birds sprang up before me, I have seen some of these Tinamous dash themselves to death against a fence close to the path, the height of which they had evidently misjudged. I have also seen a bird fly blindly against the wall of a house, killing itself instantly.”
He also mentions once riding over the pampas in the face of a violent wind, when a bird was startled from under the feet of his horse.”The bird flew up into the air vertically, and, beating its wings violently, and with a swiftness far exceeding its ordinary flight, continued to ascend until it reached a vast height, then came down again, whirling round and round, striking the earth a very few yards from the spot where it rose, and crushing itself to a pulp by the tremendous force of the fall.”The explanation was that the strong wind had directed the flight upward with a force that the bird could not control, until it was exhausted and fell.
Footer
Footer