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Show 352 CHO:\'OS ATtCliiPELAGO. Jan. 1835. and Tapacolo. One is called b y t l1 e m· h ab .1 t an t s " Che ucau " (Pteroptochos rubecula). It frequents the most gl~omy and retired spots within the damp forests. Sometimes, although its cry may be heard close at hand, let a person watch ever so attentively, he will not see ~he cheucau; at other times let him stand motionless, and the red-breasted little bird 'will approach within a few feet, in the most familiar manner. It then busily hops about the entangled mass of rotting canes and branches, with its lit~le tail cocked upwards. I opened the gizzard of some speCimens : it was very muscular, and contained hard seeds, buds of p1ants, and vegetable fibres, mixed with small st~nes. The cheucau is held in superstitious fear by the Ch1lotans, on account of its strange and varied cries. There are three very distinct kinds,-one is called " chiduco," and is an omen of good; another, "huitreu," which is extremely unfavourable; and a third, which I have forgotten. These words are given in imitation of its cries, and the natives are in some things absolutely governed by them. The Chilotans assuredly have chosen a most comical little creature for their prophet. An allied species, but rather larger, is called by the natives "Guid-guid" (Hylactes Tarnii of King, and Pteroptoclws of Kittlitz), and by the English the barking-bird. This latt~r name is well given; for I defy any one at first to feel certam that a small dog is not yelping somewhere in the forest. Just as with the cheucau, a person will sometimes hear the bark close by, but in vain may endeavour, by watching, and with still less chance by beating the bushes, to see its author ; yet at other times the guid-guid fearlessly comes near. Its manner of feeding and its general habits are very similar to those of the cheucau. Both species are said to build their nests close to the ground, amongst the rotten branches. The ground being so extremely wet, is a good reason why they do not burrow holes, like the northern species. Besides the cheucau and guid-guid, there is another species, but it is not very common. Moreover, the bird which has been men- Jan. 1835. ORNITHOLOGY, 353 tioned in Tierra del Fuego, under the title of a black wren (Scytalopus fuscus of Gould), appears, in its skulking habits, odd cries, and place of resort, and likewise in some points of structure, to be closely related to this singular genus. On the coast,* a small dusky-coloured bird (a Furnarius allied to fuliginosus) is very common. It is remarkable from its quiet and very tame habits. It lives entirely on the seabeach, and there (as well as sometimes on the floating kelp), picks up small sea-shells and crabs; thus supplying the place of a sandpiper. Besides these birds, only a few others inhabit this broken land. In my rough notes I describe the strange noises, which although frequently heard within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb the general silence. The yelping of the guid-guid, and the sudden whew-whew of the cheucau, sometimes come from afar, and sometimes from close at hand ;-the little wren occasionally adds its cry;the creeper follows the intruder, screaming and twittering;the humming-bird may be seen every now and then darting from side to side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill chirp; -lastly, from the top of some lofty tree, the indistinct but plaintive note of the whitewtufted tyrant-flycatcher may be noticed. From the great preponderance in most countries of certain kinds of birds, such as the finches, one feels at first surprised at meeting with such peculiar forms, above enumerated, as the commonest birds in any district. In central Chile two of them, namely the SynaLlaxis and Scytalopus, occur, although most rarely. When finding, as in this case, any animal which seems to play so insignificant a part in the great scheme of nature, one is apt to wonder why a distinct species • I may mention as a proof of how great a diffel'ence there is between the seasons of the wooded and the open parts of the coast, that on September 20th, in lat. 34°, these birds had young ones in the nest, while among the Chonos Islands, three months later in the summer, they were only laying; the difference in latitude between these two places being about 700 miles. VOL. III. 2 A |