[a. F. tinamou (Barrère, 1741; Buffon, 1771), a. tinamu, native name in Galibi.] A bird of the genus Tinamus (Latham, 1790) or family Tinamidæ, dromæognathous birds, according to Huxley forming the bond of union between the Carinatæ and Ratitæ. The species have an external resemblance to partridges or quails, the place of which they fill on the pampas.
1783. Latham, Synopsis Birds, II. 724. Genus LII. Tinamou No. 1. Great T[inamou]…. Tinamou de Cayenne.… This is found in the woods of several parts of South America, particularly of Cayenne and Guiana.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXIV. 476/2.
1884. G. Allen, in Longm. Mag., Jan., 293. All other modern birds … are linked … to the still earlier toothed ancestral types, by the South American tinamous.
1889. P. L. Sclater, Argentine Ornith., II. 207. The Tinamous constitute one of the most singular and characteristic types of the Neotropical avifauna.
1895. F. W. Headley, Struct. & Life Birds, xiii. 343. The Spoiled Tinnamou, or common Partridge of the Pampas.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, 964. In 1830 Wagler … placed the Tinamous in the same Order as the Ostrich and its allies.
1902. Q. Rev., Oct., 427. Another somewhat less distinguished game-bird … is the tinamu.
