on the Birds of Chili. 9 



before he liad fiuished his work. The collections of birds 

 made by Mr. Lane were transferred^ after James's death, 

 along with his other collections, to the British Museum. 

 Mr. Lane^s manuscripts and journals were entrusted by- 

 James to my care, but tlie heavy pressure of other work has, 

 I regret to say, prevented my attention to them vip to the 

 present time. On looking through them I now find that a 

 certain number of the field-notes on the birds that were 

 observed and collected are of sufficient interest to warrant 

 their publication, regard being had to the fact of the little 

 information there is at present available on the life-history 

 of the birds of Chili. 



I will first give a short account of Mr. Lane's principal 

 expeditions in Chili, in order to show exactly where he 

 went. 



IL Excursions near Santiago. 

 Mr. Lane arrived at Valparaiso on November 11th, 1889, 

 and after a short stay at Santiago, and an excursion to the 

 Hacienda Mansel, about three miles from the railway station 

 of Hospital, during which a few birds were collected, returned 

 to Santiago on December 1st. Another short excursion was 

 then made to a country-house about eight hours' ride from 

 Melipilla, in the province of Santiago, and about two hours 

 from San Antonio, which is on the coast south of Valparaiso. 

 The country here was mostly a wheat-growing district, and 

 the birds were mostly similar to those of Hospital. On De- 

 cember 8th Mr. Lane returned to Hospital and stayed there 

 collecting until the 19th, during which time he obtained 

 nests and eggs of various small birds. The commonest 

 birds noticed in these two places were Mimus thenca, Diuca 

 grisea, Hylactes megapodius, and Speotyto cunicularia, all 

 abundant in this district. On December 19th Mr. Lane 

 returned to Santiago and thence to Valparaiso. 



III. Expedition to Tarapacd. 

 Mr. Lane left Valparaiso on December 26th, 1889, and 

 arrived at Iquique on the 31st. The country here consists, 



