This can hardly be the case in
America, because the huachos, although often found addled and
putrid, are generally whole.
When at the Rio Negro in Northern Patagonia, I repeatedly heard the
Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called Avestruz
Petise. They described it as being less than the common ostrich
(which is there abundant), but with a very close general
resemblance. They said its colour was dark and mottled, and that
its legs were shorter, and feathered lower down than those of the
common ostrich. It is more easily caught by the bolas than the
other species. The few inhabitants who had seen both kinds,
affirmed they could distinguish them apart from a long distance.
The eggs of the small species appeared, however, more generally
known; and it was remarked, with surprise, that they were very
little less than those of the Rhea but of a slightly different
form, and with a tinge of pale blue. This species occurs most
rarely on the plains bordering the Rio Negro; but about a degree
and a half farther south they are tolerably abundant. When at Port
Desire, in Patagonia (latitude 48 degrees), Mr. Martens shot an
ostrich; and I looked at it, forgetting at the moment, in the most
unaccountable manner, the whole subject of the Petises, and thought
it was a not full-grown bird of the common sort.
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