15 



Chili is a long plain bordered to the east by the Cor- 

 dilleras and to the "West by the Maritime Andes. 



The train runs along this plain having only an occasional 

 embranchment to the east or west. 



The train started in the ev.ening so that I did that time 

 not see much of the country before next morning. 



At about 7 '/a next day I passed a small lake in which 

 some beautiful White Egrets were very ornamental. Near 

 the railwaystations Diucas were abundant and some Zotio- 

 trichia pileata were also occasionnally seen. In the fields 

 Mimus theuco^ with their white eyebrow-streak and white 

 marked tails, were casually seen in small families. 



After the train had branched off at Benaico we went 

 along the river for some time and here I had the good 

 luck to see a Coyim-Bat swimming across. 



Valdivia has a beautiful situation on the river but the 

 town itself is the most miserable thing one can imagine. 



To begin with, a great part of it toward the river was 

 burnt down three years ago and very little had been 

 done yet to rebuild. In fact I understood that the course 

 of the streets that certainly wanted alterations had not 

 been fixed upon yet. 



There is no plaster of any kind in most of the streets 

 and in winter in the rainy season the streets ^et so full 

 of holes and muddy that the oxen actually get drowned 

 there. 



The way which leads from the railway-station to the 

 town is made hard in some way by putting wooden logs 

 one against the other and as they get rotten and full of 

 holes this is not a very great improvement. 



From Valdivia I took a boat to Corral and from this 

 boat I saw several Turheg Vultures^ Cathartes aura, hovering 

 overhead. 



The mountains bordering the Valdivia-river are all over- 

 grown with forests which unfortunately are destroyed by 

 indiscriminate burning in a most disgraceful way. 



Near Corral I saw several Black Cormorans, Phal. hrasi- 

 liensis, some Terns and a Dipper. 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseum, Vol. XXXV. 



