746 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



Darwin writes: "It is common near Port Famine in Tierra del Fuego, 

 and on the west coast in the thickly wooded islets of the Chonos Archi- 

 pelago. It has found its way over to the Falkland Islands, where, instead 

 of inhabiting forests, it frequents the coarse herbage and low bushes, 

 which in most parts conceal the peaty surface of that island. In general 

 appearance the Scytalopiis fiiscus might at first be taken for a Troglodytes, 

 but in habits it is closely allied to the several species of Pteroptochos. In 

 a skulking manner, with its little tail erect, it hops about the most en- 

 tangled forests of Tierra del Fuego ; but when near the outskirts, it every 

 now and then pops out, and then quickly back again. It utters many 

 loud and strange cries: to obtain a good view of it is not always easy." 



Mr. James L. Peters (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Ixv, No. 9, p. 310) writes: 

 "On February 3 several were heard in the cane thickets bordering the 

 trail from Nahuel Huapi to the Lago de los Cantaros, and occasionally a 

 small form appeared momentarily, either flitting across the trail or show- 

 ing itself through an opening in the dense cane." He adds that these re- 

 marks may apply to S. niger as the two are practically indistinguishable 

 in the field. 



Genus SCELORCHILUS Oberholser. 



Type. 



Sceloychiliis Oberholser, Auk, 1923, p. 327. PteroptocJios nibecula Kittlitz. 

 Ptcvoptochos Auct. nee Kittlitz, Mem. 

 Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersb. Savants 

 Etrangers, I, October, i83i,p. 178 ( = 

 Hylacfes King, type being P. niegapo- 

 diiis Kittlitz by designation of Gray, 

 1840, List Gen. Birds, p. 19). 

 Geographical Range. — Chili, western Argentina and Patagonia. 



SCELORCHILUS RUBECULA (Kittlitz). 



Pteroptochos ritbecula Kittlitz, Mem. Ac. Imp. Sc. Petersb. 1831, p. 179 



(Concepcion). 

 ? Pteroptochos nibecula hylonympha Peters, Proc. N. E. Zool. Club, viii, 



p. 45, March 21, 1923 (Lake Nahuel Huapi). 

 ? Pteroptochos ritbecula neinorivaga Wetmore, Univ. Calif. Publ. in Zool. 



Vol. 21, p. 333 (June 16, 1923) (Port Otway, Straits of Magellan, Chili). 

 Description. — Adult male, 85316 Mus. Comp. Zool. Bareloche, Argen- 

 tina, February 2, 192 1, J. L. Peters. Total length, 7.00 inches ; wing, 3.01 ; 



