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.