The back
part of the leg, just below the knee, is quite flat and somewhat concave.
On it are strong pointed scales, which are very rough, and catch your
finger as you move it along from the knee to the toe. Now, by means of
these scales and the particular flatness of that part of the leg, the bird
is enabled to sleep in safety upon the branch of a tree.
At the close of day the great tinamou gives a loud, monotonous, plaintive
whistle, and then immediately springs into the tree. By the light of the
full-moon the vigilant and cautious naturalist may see him sitting in the
position already described.
The small tinamou has nothing that can be called a tail. It never lays more
than one egg, which is of a chocolate colour. It makes no nest, but merely
scratches a little hollow in the sand, generally at the foot of a tree.
Here we have an instance of a bird the size of a partridge, and of the same
tribe, laying only one egg, while the rest of the family, from the peahen
to the quail, are known to lay a considerable number.
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