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Show 110 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. and sometimes reiterated. Its flight is heavy. The young have their heads and thighs merely mottled with scarlet. STURNELLA MILITARIS. Vieilt. Sturnus militaris, Gmel. Etourneau des tcrres 1\bgellanique, Pl. enl. 113. I met with specimens of this bird on the east coast of the continent from the Falkland Islands to 31 o S., and on the western coast from the Strait of Magellan to Lima, a space of forty degrees of latitude. FAMILY.-rrROCHILIDlE. 1. TROCHILUS FLAVIFRONS. Monte Video.-November. Not abundant. 2. TROCHILUS FORFICATUS. Lat/t. Ed1carda' Gleanings. Vieill. Ois. dares, t. 1. Ornismya Kingii, Less. Trochilidees, pl. 38. This species is found over a space of 2,500 miles on the west coa~t, from the hot dry country of Lima to the forests of Terra del Fuego, where 1t has been described by Captain King as flitting about in a snow-storm. In the woo~ed island of Chiloe, which has an extremely damp climate, this little bird, skippm.g from side to side amidst the humid foliage, and uttering its acute chirp, IS perhaps more abundant than any other kind. It there very c~mmonly frequents open marshy ground, where a kind of bromelia grows: hovermg near the edge of the thick beds, it every now and then dashes in close to the ground ; but 1 could not see whether it ever actually alighted. At that time of the year there were very few flowers, and none whatever near the beds of bromelia. Hence, I was quite sure that 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 Tipulid::e. It is evid~nt 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 numerous, forming a black comminuted mass. In one killed at Valparaiso, I found portions of an ant. Amongst the Chonos Islands, at a season when there were flowers in open places, yet the damp recesses of the forests appeared their favourite haunt. In central BIRDS. Jl) Chile these birds are migratory· they make their appea tl · . . ' · ranee 1ere m autumn; the first arrival whiCh I observed was on the 14th of Ap '1 ( d' rt correspon mg to our October). but b.y the 20th. they were numerous · They stay th roug h ou t th e w·m ter, and begm to disappea.r m. S. eptember ·· on October 12th , in th e course of a 1o ng walk, I saw only one mdtvidual. During the period of their summer migration, nests were very. comm?n in Chiloe and the Chonos Island, countries south of Chile. When ~Ius spe~Ies o~ Trocltilus migrates southward, it is replaced in Chile by a ~arge~ kmd, winch wtll be presently described. The migration of the hummmg buds on bot? the east • and west coasts of North America, exactly corresponds to that whiCh takes place in the southern half of the continent. In both they move towards the. tropic during the colder parts of the year, and retreat polew.a rdT b' efored the returmng heat. Some, however , remain during the wh 1 o e year. m 1erra el Fuego; and in northern California,-which in the northern hemisphere, has this same relative position which Tierra del Fuego has in the southern,-some, according to Beechey, likewise remain. Near the south end of Chiloe, I ~ound on the 8th of December, a nest with eggs nearly hatched. It was of the ordmary form of nests ; rather more than an inch in internal diameter, and not d:ep, co~pose.d externally of coarse and fine moss, neatly woven together, and hned With dned conferv::e, now forming a very fine reddish fibrous mass. I feel no doubt regarding the nature of this latter substance, as the transverse septa are yet ~uite distinct: hence this humming bird builds its nest entirely of cryptogamic plants. Egg perfectly white, elongated, or rather almost cylindrical, with rounded ends; length ·557 of an inch, and transverse diameter '352 of an inch. In January, at the Chonos Islands, when there were young in the nest, a considerable number of old birds were shot; of these, however, few or scarcely any had the shining crest of the male. In the only specimen, which I carefully examined, the metallic tips of the young feathers of the crest, were just beginning to protrude. Several of these males without their crest, had a yellowish gorge; and I saw some with a few light brown feathers on their backs. I presume these appearances are connected with their state of moult. 3. TnocHrLus GIGAS, Vieill. Orsimya tristis, L&s., Oiseaux Mouches, pl. a. This species is common in central Chile. It is a large bird for the de1icate family to which it belongs. At Valparaiso, in the year 1834, I saw several of these birds in the middle of August, and I was informed they had only lately arrived from the parched deserts of the north. Towards the middle of September * Ilumboldt, Pers. Narr. vol. v. part 1. p. 352. Cook's Third Voyage, vol. ii. and Becchey's Voyage. |
