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Show 330 cmLE. Sept. 1834. out of the thickets and back again, in its desire of concealment, unwillingness to take flight, and nidifi.cation, 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 the 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. Mellisuga IGngii 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, which 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 there 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 * It is a remarkable fact, that Molina, though describing in detail all the birds and animals of Chile, never once mentions this genus, the'species of which are so common, and so remarkable in their habits. Was he at a loss how to classify them, and did he consequently think that silence was the more prudent course? It is one more instance of the frequency of omission by authors, on those very subjects where it would be least expected. Sept. 1834. IIUMMI!\ G-BlRDS. 331 uround · but I could not see whether it ever actually alighted. 0 ' At the time of year I refer to, there were very few :Bowers, 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 tipulidre. 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 Fue~o; and in Northern California' - which in the northern hemispher.e has the same relative position which Tierra del Fuego has m the southern,-some, according to Beechey, likewise remain. The second species ( TrochiLus gigas) is a very large ~ird, for the delicate family to which it belongs. In the neighbourhood of Valparaiso, during this year, it had arrived in • Humboldt's Pers. Narr., vol. v., part i., p. 352; Cook's Third Voyage, vol. ii.; and Beechey's Voyage. |