" (5/17. "Account of the Abipones"
A.D. 1749 volume 1 English translation page 314.)
A very singular little bird, Tinochorus rumicivorus, is here
common: in its habits and general appearance it nearly equally
partakes of the characters, different as they are, of the quail and
snipe. The Tinochorus is found in the whole of southern South
America, wherever there are sterile plains, or open dry pasture
land. It frequents in pairs or small flocks the most desolate
places, where scarcely another living creature can exist. Upon
being approached they squat close, and then are very difficult to
be distinguished from the ground. When feeding they walk rather
slowly, with their legs wide apart. They dust themselves in roads
and sandy places, and frequent particular spots, where they may be
found day after day: like partridges, they take wing in a flock. In
all these respects, in the muscular gizzard adapted for vegetable
food, in the arched beak and fleshy nostrils, short legs and form
of foot, the Tinochorus has a close affinity with quails. But as
soon as the bird is seen flying, its whole appearance changes; the
long pointed wings, so different from those in the gallinaceous
order, the irregular manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at
the moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe.
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