Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/1038

 it Tinamus, as the name of a new and distinct genus. The “Tinamou” of Barrère has been identified with the “Macucagua” described and figured by Marcgrav in 1648, and is the Tinamus major of modern authors.

Buffon and his successors saw that the Tinamous, though passing among the European colonists of South America as “Partridges,” could not be associated with those birds, and Latham's step, above mentioned, was generally approved. The genus he had founded was usually placed among the Gallinae, and by many writers was held to be allied to the bustards, which, it must be remembered, were then thought to be “struthious.” Indeed the likeness of the Tinamou's bill to that of the (q.v.) was remarked in 1811 by Illiger. On the other hand L'Herminier in 1827 saw features in the Tinamou's sternum that in his judgment linked the bird to the Rallidae. In 1830 J. Wagler (Nat. Syst. Amphibien, &c., p. 127) placed the Tinamous in the same order as the ostrich and its allies; and, though he did this on very insufficient grounds, his assignment has turned out to be not far from the mark, as in 1862 the great affinity of these groups was shown by W. K. Parker's researches, which were afterwards printed in the Zoological Transactions (v. pp. 205–232, 236–238, pls. xxxix.–xli.), and was further substantiated by him in the Philosophical Transactions (1866, pp. 174–178, pl. xv.). Shortly after this T. H. Huxley in his often-quoted paper in the Zoological Proceedings (1867, pp. 425, 426) was enabled to place the whole matter in a clear light, urging that the Tinamous formed a very distinct group of birds which, though not to be removed from the Carinatae, presented so much resemblance to the Ratitae as to indicate them to be the bond of union between those two great divisions. The group from the resemblance of its palatal characters to those of the (q.v.), Dromaeus, he called Dromaeognathae, but it is now more usual to place them in a separate order, the Tinamiformes.

The Tinamous are comparatively insignificant in numbers. They are peculiar to the neotropical region—a few species finding their way into southern Mexico and none beyond. Some of them inhabit forests and others the more open country; but setting aside size (which in this group varies from that of a quail to that of a large common fowl) there is an unmistakable uniformity of appearance among them as a whole, so that almost anybody having seen one species of the group would always recognize another. Yet in minor characters there is considerable difference among them; and about sixty-four species are recognized, divided into the genera Tinamus, Nothocercus, Crypturus, Rhynchotus, Nothoprocta, Nothura, Taoniscus and Tinamotis.



To the ordinary spectator Tinamous have much the look of partridges, but the more attentive observer will notice that their elongated bill, their small head and slender neck, clothed with very short feathers, give them a different air. The plumage is generally inconspicuous: some tint of brown, ranging from rufous to slaty, and often more or less closely barred with a darker shade or black, is the usual style of coloration; but some species are characterized by a white throat or a bay breast. The wings are short and rounded, and in some forms the feathers

of the tail, which in all are hidden by their coverts, are soft. In bearing and gait the birds show some resemblance to their distant relatives the Ratitae, and A. D. Bartlett showed (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 115, pl. xii.) that this is especially seen in the newly hatched young. He also noticed the still stronger Ratite character, that the male takes on himself the duty of incubation. The eggs are very remarkable objects, curiously unlike those of other birds; and their shell looks as if it were of highly-burnished metal or glazed porcelain, presenting also various colours, which seem to be constant in the particular species, from pale primrose to sage-green or light indigo, or from chocolate brown to pinkish orange. All who have eaten it declare the flesh of the Tinamou to have a most delicate taste, as it has a most inviting appearance, the pectoral muscles being semi-opaque. Of their habits not much has been told. Darwin (Journ. ch. iii.) has remarked upon the silliness they show in allowing themselves to be taken, and this is wholly in accordance with what W. K. Parker observes of their brain capacity and is an additional testimony to their low morphological rank. At least one species of Tinamou has bred not infrequently in confinement, and partly successful attempts to naturalize the species Rhynchotus rufescens have been made in England.

 TINCTURE (Fr. teinture, Lat. tinctura, tingere, to dye, stain), the colour with which a substance is dyed; hence, metaphorically, distinctive character or quality. The term is used in heraldry of the metals, argent, or, of the colours, gules, azure, sable, vert, &c., or of the furs, ermine, vair, &c. Since the 16th century a conventional arrangement of lines and dots gives the equivalents of these tinctures in black and white (see ). In medicine, a tincture is a fluid solution of the essential properties of some substance, animal, vegetable or mineral; the menstruum being either alcohol, ether or ammonia; the various kinds are accordingly distinguished as alcoholic, etherial or ammoniated tinctures.  TINDAL, MATTHEW (d. 1733), English deist, the son of a clergyman, was born at Beer Ferrers (Ferris), Devonshire, probably in 1653. He studied law at Lincoln College, Oxford, under the high churchman George Hickes, dean of Worcester; in 1678 he was elected fellow of All Souls College. About 1685 he saw “that upon his High Church notions a separation from the Church of Rome could not be justified,” and accordingly he joined the latter. But discerning “the absurdities of popery,” he returned to the Church of England at Easter 1688. His early works were an Essay of Obedience to the Supreme Powers (1694); an Essay on the Power of the Magistrate and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion (1697); and The Liberty of the Press (1698). The first of his two larger works, The Rights of the Christian Church associated against the Romish and all other priests who claim an independent power over it, pt. i., appeared anonymously in 1706 (2nd ed., 1706; 3rd, 1707; 4th, 1709). The book was regarded in its day as a forcible defence of the Erastian theory of the supremacy of the state over the Church, and at once provoked criticism and abuse. After several attempts to proscribe the work had failed, a case against the author, publisher and printer succeeded on the 12th of December 1707, and another against a bookseller for selling a copy the next day. The prosecution did not prevent the issue of a fourth edition and gave the author the opportunity of issuing A Defence of the Rights of the Christian Church, in two parts (2nd ed., 1709). The book was, by order of the House of Commons, burned, along with Sacheverell's sermon, by the common hangman (1710). It continued to be the subject of denunciation for years, and Tindal believed he was charged by Dr Gibson, bishop of London, in a Pastoral Letter, with having undermined religion and promoted atheism and infidelity—a charge to which he replied in the anonymous tract, An Address to the Inhabitants of London and Westminster, a second and larger edition of which appeared in 1730. In this tract he makes a valiant defence of the deists, and anticipates