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out of the thickets and back again, in its desire of concealment,
unwillingness to take flight, and nidification, it bears
a close resemblance to the turco ; but its appearance is not
quite so ridiculous. The tapacolo is very crafty : when
frightened by any person, it will remain motionless at the
bottom of a bush, and will then, after a little while, try with
much address to crawl away on the opposite side. It is also
an active bird, and continually making a noise : these noises
are various and strangely odd ; some are like tlie cooing of
doves, others like the bubbling of water, and many defy all
similes. The country people say it changes its cry five times
in the year—according to some change of season I suppose.
I believe these two species of Pteroptochos are only found
in central Chile. To the southward, within the damp forest
region, two other species supply the place of these lovers
of a more sterile land ; and a fifth species is common to both
districts. On the Patagonian coast a bird allied to them,
both in structure and habits, represents this Chilian genus.*
Two species of humming-birds are common, and I have
seen a third kind within the Cordillera, at an elevation of
about 10,000 feet. Mdlisuga Kingii is found over a space
of 2500 miles on the west coast, from the hot dry country of
Lima, to the forests of Tierra del Fuego—where it has been
described as flitting about in a snow-storm. In the wooded
island of Chiloe, whioh has an extremely humid climate, this
little bird, skipping from side to side amidst the dripping
foliage, is perhaps more abundant than almost any other
kind. It tliere very commonly frequents open marshy ground,
where a kind of bromelia grows: hovering near the edge of
the thick beds, it every now and then dashed in close to the
* I t is a rem a rk a b le fac t, t h a t M o lin a , th o u g h d e s c rib in g in d e ta il a ll
th e b ird s a n d a n im a ls o f C h ile , n e v e r o n c e m e n tio n s th is g e n u s , th e s p e c
ie s o f w h ic h a r e so com m o n , a n d so rem a rk a b le in th e i r h a b its . W a s
h e a t a loss liow to classify th em , a n d d id h e c o n s e q u e n tly th in k th a t
s ile n c e was th e m o re p r u d e n t c o u rs e ? I t is o n e m o re in sta n c e o f th e
f re q u e n c y o f omission by a u tlio rs , o n tlioso v e ry s u b je c ts w liete i t w o u ld
b e le a s t ex p e c te d .
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7;
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ground; but I could not see whether it ever actually alighted.
At the time of year I refer to, there were very few flowers,
and none whatever near the beds of bromelia. Hence I was
quite sure they did not live on honey; and on opening the
stomach and upper intestine, by the aid of a lens I could
plainly distinguish, in a yellow fluid, morsels of the wings of
diptera—probably tipulidas. It is evident that these birds
search for minute insects in their winter-quarters under the
thick foliage. I opened the stomachs of several specimens,
which were shot in different parts of the continent; and in
all, remains of insects were so numerous, as often to present
a black comminuted mass, as in the stomach of a creeper.
In central Chile these birds are migratory: they make their
appearance there in autumn, and in the latter end of the
month corresponding to our October, they were very common.
In the spring they began to disappear, and on the
12th of what would correspond to our March, in the course
of a long walk, I saw only one individual. As this species
migrates to the southward, it is replaced by the arrival of a
larger kind, which will be presently described. I do not
believe the small kind breeds in Chile ; for, during the summer,
their nests were common to the south of that country.
The migration of the humming-birds on both the east* and
west coast of North America exactly corresponds to what
takes place in this southern continent. In both cases they
move towards the tropic during the colder parts of the year,
and retreat northward before the returning heat. Some, however,
remain during the whole year in Tierra del Fuego; and
in Northern California,—which in the northern hemisphere
has the same relative position which Tierra del Fuego has in
the southern,—some, according to Beechey, likewise remain.
The second species (Trochihis gigas) is a very large bird,
for the delicate family to which it belongs. In the neighbourhood
of Valparaiso, during this year, it had arrived in
* H um b o ld t’s P e is . N a r r ., v o l. v., p a r t i., p . 3 5 2 ; C o o k ’s T h i rd Voyage,
vol. ii. ; a n d B e e c h e y ’s Voyage.
I I