350 CENXaAL CHILE. 



when frightened by any person, it will remain mo- 

 tionless at the bottom of a bush, and will then, af- 

 ter a little while, try with much address to crawl 

 away on the opposite side. It is also an active 

 bird, and continually making a noise : these noises 

 are various and sti'angely odd ; some are likft the 

 cooing of doves, others like the bubbling of water, 

 and many defy all similes. The counti-y people 

 say it changes its cry five times in the year — ac- 

 cording to some change of season, J suppose.* 



Two species of humming-birds are common : 

 Trochilus forficatus is found over a space of 2500 

 miles on the west coast, from the hot, dry country 

 of Lima, to the forests of Tierra del Fuego, 

 where it may be seen flitting about in snow-storms. 

 In the wooded island of Chiloe, which has an ex- 

 tremely humid climate, this little bird, skipping 

 from side to side amid the dripping foliage, is per- 

 haps more abundant than almost any other kind. 

 I opened the stomachs of several specimens, shot 

 in different parts of the continent, and in all re- 

 mains of insects were as numerous as in the stom- 

 ach of a creeper. When this species migrates in 

 the summer southward, it is replaced by the an'i- 

 val of another species coming from the north. 

 This second kind (Trochilus gigas) is a very large 

 bird for the delicate family to which it belongs : 

 when on the wing its appearance is singvilar. Like 

 others of the genus, it moves from place to place 

 with a rapidity which may be compared to that of 

 Syrphus amongst flies, and Sphinx amongst moths; 



* It is a remarkable fact, that Molina, though describing in de- 

 tail all the birds and animals in Chile, never once mentions this 

 genus, the species of which are so common, and so remarkable 

 in their habits. Was he at a loss how to classify them, and did 

 he consequently think that silence was the more prudent course ? 

 It is one more instance of the frequency of omissions by authors 

 on those very subjects where it might have been least expected. 



