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Rhea (Ornithology a genus)

in ornithology, a genus of Struthionidæ, or, if that family is divided, of Struthioninæ. Three toes are present, the neck is covered with feathers, and the tail is almost obsolete.

They are sometimes called South American ostriches, but are smaller than the true ostrich, and the whole plumage is somber. There are two well-established RHEA species, R. americana, the common, anë R. darwini, Darwin's rhea, the former ranging from Bolivia, Paraguay, and the S. of Brazil down to Magellan's Straits, the latter inhabiting eastern Patagonia.

R. macrorhyncha was given specific distinction by Dr. Sclater in 1860, but subsequent investigations led him to believe that the individuals belonged to a locally isolated race of R. americana, probably existing somewhere in the campos of the interior of northeastern Brazil. sequent