During our (Nora Patrich, Juan Manuel Sanchez & me and ably assisted by our subject Linda Lorenzo) pursuit of Argentine nostalgia I found that Patrich had objects that met up with any obscure nostalgia I had on my place of birth.

One of them was seeing South American rheas (related to Australian ostriches) swiftly run across the Pampa from my vantage point on a horse. I would then urge my horse to gallop in their direction. I never really got that close.

In estancia (Argentine for ranch) asados (barbecues) well aged meet was offered to guests while the workers of the estancia at very tough freshly slaughtered beef. For dessert we had luscious cakes but again those workers ate cakes made from the eggs of the avestruz (as rheas are called in Argentina). The taste was strong as was the smell. Argentines call the stench of a sweaty horse or that of a rhea’s egg catinga.

We had a hollowed out rhea’s egg at home that did not survive our move from Buenos Aires to Mexico City. Nora did not have that problem. She had the egg which resulted in many photographs in which I used fine grain slow and very fast Ilford film. A few of the pictures here I took with Kodak Black&White Infrared Film.

I found this interesting account on Darwin's observations on the Argentine avestruz here. It saved me the painful effort of copying it from my own personal copy of Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle.

Struthio Rhea

I will now give an account of … the Struthio Rhea, or South American ostrich. This bird is well known to abound over the plains of Northern Patagonia, and the united provinces of La Plata. It has not crossed the Cordillera; but I have seen it within the first range of mountains on the Uspallata plain…. The ordinary habits of the ostrich are familiar to everyone. They feed on vegetable matter; such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca, I have repeatedly seen three or four come down at low water to the extensive mud-banks which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of catching small fish. Although the ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and solitary, and although so fleet in its pace, it falls a prey, without much difficulty, to the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When several horsemen appear in a semicircle, it becomes confounded, and does not know which way to escape. They generally prefer running against the wind; yet at the first start they expand their wings, and like a vessel make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several ostriches enter a bed of tall rushes, where they squatted concealed, till quite closely approached. It is not generally known that ostriches readily take to the water. Mr. King informs me that at the Bay of San Blas, and at Port Valdes in Patagonia, he saw these birds swimming several times from island to island. …When swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water, and their necks are extended a little forward: their progress is slow. On two occasions, I saw some ostriches swimming.

Charles Darwin – The Voyage of the Beagle

The following passage is thought by some Darwin scholars to reflect one of Darwin’s most significant “aha” moments, leading to his understanding of evolutionary processes. The bird described here is known as the Avestruz Petise, and was named by the ornithologist Gould as Rhea darwinii. However,since the bird was earlier named (based on reports, not specimens) Pterocnemia pennata (the Lesser rhea), Darwin’s name does not survive today in the annals of taxonomy.

Read the passage then I’ll note its presumed significance.

    …I repeatedly heard the Gauchos talking of a very rare bird which they called Avestruz Petise. They described it as being less than the common ostrich (which is there abundant), but with a very close general resemblance. … The few inhabitants who had seen both kinds, affirmed they could distinguish them apart from a long distance. … This species occurs most rarely on the plains bordering the Rio Negro; but about a degree and a half further south they are tolerably abundant. …They are said to prefer the plains near the sea. When at Port Desire, in Patagonia (lat. 48°), 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 two-third grown one of the common sort. The bird was cooked and eaten before my memory returned. Fortunately the head, neck, legs, wings, many of the larger feathers, and a large part of the skin, had been preserved. From these a very nearly perfect specimen has been put together, and is now exhibited in the museum of the Zoological Society. Mr. Gould, who in describing this new species did me the honour of calling it after my name, states, that besides the smaller size and different colour of the plumage, the beak is of considerably less proportional dimensions than in the common Rhea …

In my Buenos Aires youth my mother dusted the house with a plumero which was made from avestruz feathers. I believe that if the Hoover had not been invented these majestic birds would be extinct.