406 Observations on Terra del Fuego. 



among the entangled mass of the fallen and decaying trunks. But the 

 creeper (Syxattaxis Tupinieri) is the commonest bird in the country. 

 Throughout the beech forests, high up and low down, in the most gloomy, 

 wet, and impenetrable ravines, it may be met with. This little bird, no 

 doubt, appears more numerous than it really is, from its habit of follow- 

 ing, with seeming curiosity, any person who enters these silent woods ; 

 continually uttering a harsh titter, it flutters from tree to tree, within a 

 few feet of the intruder's face. It is far from wishing for the modest con- 

 cealment of the tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris), nor does it, like that 

 bird, run up and down the trunks of trees ; but industriously, after the 

 manner of a willow-wren, hops about, and searches for insects on every 

 twig and branch. In the more open parts, three or four species of 

 finches, a thrush, a starling (or Icterus), two Furnarii, and several hawks 

 and owls, occur. 



The absence of any species whatever in the whole class of reptiles is 

 a marked feature in the zoology of this country, as well as in that of the 

 Falkland Islands. I do not ground this statement merely on my own 

 observation, but I heard it from the Spanish inhabitants of the latter 

 place, and from Jemmy Button, with regard to Terra del Fuego. On the 

 banks of the St Cruz, in 50° south, I saw a frog ; and it is not improbable 

 that these animals, as well as lizards, may be found as far south as the 

 Straits of Magellan, where the country retains the character of Patagonia ; 

 but within the damp and cold limit not one occurs. That the climate 

 woiild not have suited some of the orders, such as lizards, might have 

 been foreseen ; but with respect to frogs, this was not so obvious. 



Coleopterous insects occur in very small quantities. Until I had en- 

 deavoured by every means to find them, I could not believe, that a 

 country as large as Scotland, covered with vegetable productions, and 

 with a variety of stations, would ever have been so unproductive. The 

 greater part of my small collection consists of alpine insects (Harpalidao 

 and Heteromera) found beneath stones, above the limit of the forest. 

 Lower down, with the exception of some few Curculiones, scarcely any 

 could be found. The Chrysomelidse, which are so pre-eminently cha- 

 racteristic of the Tropics, are here almost entirely absent.* This must 

 depend on the climate ; for the quantity of vegetable matter is superflu- 

 ously great. In the hottest part of the summer, the mean of the maxi- 



* I believe I must except one alpine Haltica, and a single specimen of a 

 Melasoma. Mr Waterhouse, who was good enough to look at my collec- 

 tion from this place, tells me, that of the Harpalidae there are eight or nine 

 species — the forms of the greater number being very peculiar ; of Hetero- 

 mera, four or five species ; of Rhyncophora six or seven ; and of the follow- 

 ing families one species in each : — Staphylinida?, Elaterida?, Cebrionidse, 

 Mclolonthidae. The species in the other orders were even fewer. In all 

 the orders, the scarcity of the individuals was even more remarkable than 

 that of the species. 



