172 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. [CHAP. XL 



plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius albiceps) 

 may be heard, concealed near the summit of the most lofty trees ; and 

 more rarely the loud strange cry of a black woodpecker, with a fine 

 scarlet crest on its head. A little, dusky-coloured wren (Scytalopus 

 Magellanicus) hops in a skulking manner among the entangled mass 

 of the fallen and decaying trunks. But the creeper (Oxyurus 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 following with seeming 

 curiosity any person who enters these silent woods ; continually utter- 

 ing a harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to tree, within a few feet of 

 the intruder's face. It is far from wishing for the modest concealment 

 of the true creeper (Certhia familiaris) ; nor does it, like that bird, run 

 up 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 Opetiorhynchi, 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 Tierra del 

 Fuego. On the banks of the Santa 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 Strait of Magellan, where the country 

 retains the character of Patagonia; but within the damp and cold limit 

 of Tierra del Fuego not one occurs. That the climate would not have 

 suited some of the orders, such as lizards, might have been foreseen ; 

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



Beetles occur in very small numbers: it was long before I could 

 believe that a country as large as Scotland, covered with vegetable 

 productions and with a variety of stations, could be so unproductive. 

 The few which I found were alpine species (Harpalidae and Hete- 

 romidae) living under stones. The vegetable-feeding Chrysomelidse, 

 so eminently characteristic of the Tropics, are here almost entirely 

 absent ;* I saw very few flies, butterflies, or bees, and no crickets or 

 Orthoptera. In the pools of water I found but few aquatic beetles, 

 and not any fresh-water shells : Succinea at first appears an exception ; 



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

 Melasoma. Mr. Waterhou^e informs me, that of the Harpalidae there are 

 eight or nine species the forms of the greater number being very peculiar ; 

 of Heteromera, four or five species ; of Rhyncophora six or seven ; and 

 of the following families one species in each : Staphylinidae, Elateridas, 

 Cebrionidae, Melolonthidse. The species in the other orders arc even fewer. 

 In all the orders, the scarcity of the individuals is even more remarkable 

 than that of the species. Most of the Coleoptera have been carefully de- 

 scribed by Mr. Waterfaouse in the "Annals of Natural History." 



