Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE TINAMOUS

Tinamous Description

Taking everything into account it appears that the Tinamous are a sort of connecting link between the typical flying birds and the so-called flightless birds, or those that are destitute of a keel to the breast-bone.

They possess characters undoubtedly relating them to each of these great groups, but they are perhaps best placed among the Ratite birds, immediately succeeding the Ostriches, Cassowaries, etc. About forty species of Tinamous are known, ranging in size from the Little Tinamou of Brazil and Paraguay, which is only six inches in length, to the Rufous or Great Tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens) of Brazil and Argentina, which is fourteen inches long.

They are divisible into two quite well marked groups, according to the presence or absence of a distinct hind toe.

previous bird species next bird species