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Show 66 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE. of which I afterwards observed at work. It is rather curious, that as these birds were constantly flitting backwards and forwards over the low wall, they must be quite incapable of judging of distance or thickness even after t.he shortest circuitous route. for otherwise they would not have made so many vam attempts. UPPUCERTHIA DUMETORIA. I. Geo.ffi·. <r D'Orb. PLATE XIX. Uppucerthia. dumetoria., J. Geo.ffr. ~· D'Orb. Ann. du Mus. i. 393 and 394. Furnarius dumoton1m, D'Orb. MS. Uppucerthia dumetorum, D'Orb. o/ Lafr. Mag. de Zool. 1838, p. 20. This bird is an inhabitant of extremely sterile regions. I saw several at the Rio Negro, but at Port Desire they were, perhaps, more numerous. I did not observe it near Valparaiso, in Central Chile, but I procured specimens of it from Coquimbo, where the country is more desert. It frequents open places, in which a few bushes grow. It hops very quickly, and often flies quietly from one place to another. It may often be seen turning over and picking dry pieces of dung. It is a remarkable circumstance, that in the three specimens which I brought home, from different localities, namely the Rio Negro, Port Desire, and Coquimbo, the beak varies considerably in length : in that from Port Desire in Patagonia it is three-eighths of an inch shorter than in that from Coquimbo in Chile; whilst the Rio Negro specimen is intermediate between them. Mr. G. R. Gray has pointed out to me that Latham long since observed a great variation in the beak of the Patagonian warbler, Opetiorltynclnts Patagonicus. 1. 0PE1'IORHYNCHUS VULGARIS. G. R. Gray. Uppuccrthia vulgaris, D'Orbi9. ~· Lafr. Mag. do Zool. 1838, p. 23. This bird in general habits has several points of resemblance with the Furnarius cuniculw·ius, but differs in some other respects. Its flight is somewhat similar, but it shows two red bands on its wings, instead of one, by which it can be distinguished at a distance : instead of walking it only hops ; it feeds entirely on the ground, and in its stomach I found scarcely anything but Coleopterous insects, and of these many were fungi feeders. It often frequents the borders of lakes, where the water has thrown up leaves and other refuse. It likewise may be met with in all parts of the open grassy plains of Banda Oriental, where (like the Uppucertltia at the Rio Negro) it often turns over dry dung. Its note is very like that of the F. cunicularius, but more acute, and consists of a shrill cry, quickly reiterated so as to make a running sound. I was informed that, like that bird, it builds its nest at the bottom of a deep burrow. This species |
