BIRDS. 7 1 



neighbourhood of Concepcion, lat. 37°, to south of the Peninsula of Tres Montes, 

 between 41° and 50°. It is not found in Tierra del Fuego, where the climate pro- 

 bably is too cold for it, for in other resj^ects, the great forests of that country 

 appear admirably adapted to its habits. Its limit, northward of the province of 

 Concepcion, is evidently due to the change which there takes place, from dense 

 forests to an open and dry country. The P. Tarnii is abundant in all parts of the 

 Island of Chiloe, where it is called by the native Indians, guid-guid; but by the 

 English sailors, the barking-bird. This latter name is very well applied, for the 

 noise which it utters is precisely like the yelping of a small dog. When a person 

 is walking along a pathway within the forest, or on the sea-beach, he will often be 

 surprised to hear on a sudden, close by him, the barking of the guid-gtiid. He 

 may often watch in vain the thicket, whence the sound proceeds, in hopes of see- 

 ing its author, and if he endeavour, by beating the bushes, to drive it out, his 

 chance of success will be still smaller. At other times, by standing quietly within 

 the forest, the guid-guid will fearlessly hop close to him, and will stand on the 

 trunk of some dead tree, with its tail erect, and strange figure full in view. It 

 feeds exclusively on the ground, in the thickest and most entangled parts of the 

 forest. It rarely takes w ing, and then only for short distances. It has the power 

 of hopping quickly and with great vigour; when thus awkwardly proceeding, it 

 carries its short tail in a nearly erect position. I was informed that \.he guid-guid, 

 builds a nest amongst rotten sticks, close to the ground. 



2. Pteroptochos megapodius. Kittl. 



Pteroptochos megapodius. K'lttl, 1830, Mem. de I'Acad. 1, pi. iv. et Vogel. von Chili, p. 10, pi. iv. 

 Megalonyx rufiis. Less. Cent. Zool. 18-31, pi. G6. 



- — ■ D'Orh. S; Lafr. 



Leptonyx macropiis. Stcains. Zool. 111. pi. 117. 



D'Orh. Sf Lafr. Voy. de I'Amer. Mer. Av. 197. 



This bird is common in the dry country of central and northern Chile, where 

 it replaces the P. Tarnii of the thickly wooded southern regions. The P. mega- 

 podius, is called by the Chilenos, " El Turco ;" it lives on the ground amongst 

 the bushes which are sparingly scattered over the stony hills. With its tail erect, 

 every now and then it may be seen popping on its stilt-like legs from one bush to 

 another with uncommon celerity. Its appearance is very strange and almost ludi- 

 crous, and the bird seems always anxious to hide itself. It does not run, but hops, 

 and can hardly be compelled to take flight. The various loud cries which it utters, 

 when concealed in the bushes, are as strange as its appearance. I opened the ex- 

 tremely muscular gizzards of several of these birds, and found them tilled with 

 beetles, vegetable fibres, and pebbles. Observing the structure of tlie gizzard, the 



