Description: A medium, terrestrial bird with a thin neck and a relatively small head. The body and tail are egg-shaped with the legs directly beneath them. They have a long, slightly de-curved beak with a pointed tip and four toes. They have three toes at the front that they walk on and a small-reduced toe that is raised up the tarsus. Coat: Overall light brown with a grey breast and mantel. The head and neck are brown and light brown striped with a brown cap and dorsal stripe, the chin/throat is whitish. The breast and belly are pale cream, the vent is faded orange and the under-tail coverts are orange all with faint brown bands. The back is grey-brown becoming brown towards and on the rump, all banded with darker brown. The tail is lighter brown with dark brown bands. The wings are basically brown, darker towards the tips and covered with broken darker brown bands that are deeper on the flight feathers. The legs are bluish-grey and the bill black with a paler tip. The irides are dark brown.
Size: Total length 42.5-48cm.
Weight: Male: 1014-1500g, female: 1710-1900g.
Senses: Good runners though they cannot keep up a heavy pace for long. They are poor flyers and prefer to run from danger than to take flight.
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical forests, preferably warm and moist, but also in areas that have cooler to cold dry seasons. Prefers virgin forests with little undergrowth.
Range: Each bird is thought to defend a territory of about 30 ha. Females tend to wander in and out of male ranges, particularly through the breeding season when they mate with several males.
Distribution: Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.
Status: Insufficiently known. They are known to be rare throughout their range, this is due to hunting pressure and habitat destruction. Several populations have disappeared from Brazil already. The species will breed in captivity so they may be reintroduced into these areas.
Daily Rhythm: They are active through the day and roost at night in trees. When they come to roost they often return to the same spot night after night. As they are not particularly good flyers they have hard time reaching the roost site. The assent can be noisy and labored, so the birds often choose a spot where they can climb onto the roost from a slope. The branch that they rest on is usually thick and they rest with the legs folded, not using their feet to grip the branch at all.
Voice: Males tend to call more than females, however both sexes do call to inform others of their location each day. Females have deep voices in general and use different notes and tones than the males. Males keep contact with their chicks by making a soft repeated call.
Enemies:
Prey: Seeds (Rutaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Annonaceae), small fruits, berries and plant matter; they also take some insects and other invertebrates.
Food and Feeding: Most food is taken directly from the ground, sometimes from bushes at head height and occasionally they will leap about 1m off the ground to snatch an insect or piece of fruit. Whilst foraging they walk along with their attention focused on the ground and occasionally look up to check for predators. Small items are swallowed whole, including live insects, however larger items are repeatedly pecked until they broken into manageable pieces.
Grouping: Solitary. Males call to females during the breeding season and they unit only to mate and lay the eggs.
Breeding: Males call a female into their territory and after the female has laid the eggs in his nest she leaves to mate with another male. The male cares for the young throughout their dependent stages, including all the incubation tasks.
Gestation: 19 days.
Litter Size: 6-14 eggs per clutch.
Young Description: The eggs are greenish-blue or turquoise. Juveniles are white spotted on the upper-parts, particularly on the wings. Chicks are chestnut-cinnamon with paler backs. They are covered with thick downy feathers. The juvenile plumage starts to replace the natal at 25-28 days, at 3 months the juvenile plumage is complete.
Nest: Nest are always made on the ground, usually in a slight depression, the male lines it with leaves.
Young Care: The male cares for the chicks as the female leaves the male and her clutch right after laying them. The chicks all hatch together and a few hours later the male leads them from the nest, calling softly to them. When they are threatened, as with eggs, the male will often flee performing a distraction display, in which he acts as though trying to fly but fails. Other times he will crouch and hide the young beneath his belly and wings. The chicks can feed themselves right away, although the male puts food down before them and points out areas for them to explore. After about 10-20 days the chicks are able to fend for themselves and leave the males company.
Sexual Maturity:
Longevity: 12-15 years in captivity.

Geographical Variations:
Tinamus solitarius pernambucensis
Distribution: East central Brazil.
Description: Coat: Overall paler and yellower, with brown markings on head and neck, black not brown.

Tinamus solitarius solitarius
Distribution: East Brazil, south east Paraguay, extreme north east Argentina.

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