1835.] TWO VERY STRANGE BIRDS. 275 



resident, who had visited Ireland, that he had often sought for 

 this substance, but had never been able to find any. He showed 

 me, as the nearest approach to it which he had discovered, a black 

 peaty soil, so penetrated with roots as to allow of an extremely slow 

 and imperfect combustion. 



The zoology of these broken islets of the Chonos Archipelago 

 is, as might have been expected, very poor. Of quadrupeds two 

 aquatic kinds are common. The Myopotamus Coypus (like a 

 beaver, but with a round tail) is well known from its fine fur, 

 which is an object of trade throughout the tributaries of La Plata. 

 It here, however, exclusively frequents salt water ; which same 

 circumstance has been mentioned as sometimes occurring with the 

 great rodent, the Capybara. A small sea-otter is very numerous ; 

 this animal does not feed exclusively on fish, but, like the seals, 

 draws a large supply from a small red crab, which swims in shoals 

 near the surface of the water. Mr. Bynoe saw one in Tierra del 

 Fuego eating a cuttle-fish ; and at Low's Harbour, another was 

 killed in the act of carrying to its hole a large volute shell. At 

 one place I caught in a trap a singular little mouse (M. brachiotis) ; 

 it appeared common on several of the islets, but the Chilotans at 

 Low's Harbour said that it was not found in all. What a suc- 

 cession of chances,* or what changes of level must have been 

 brought into play, thus to spread these small animals throughout 

 this broken archipelago ! 



In all parts of Chiloe and Chonos, two very strange birds occur, 

 which are allied to, and replace, the Turco and Tapacolo of central 

 Chile. One is called by the inhabitants " Cheucau " (Pteroptochos 

 rubecula) : it frequents the most gloomy and retired spots within 

 the damp forests. Sometimes, although its cry may be heard close 

 at hand, let a person watch ever so attentively he will not see the 

 cheucau; at other times, let him stand motionless and the red- 

 breasted little bird will approach within a few feet in the most 

 familiar manner. It then busily hops about the entangled mass 

 of rotting canes and branches, with its little tail cocked upwards. 

 The cheucau is held in sitperstitious fear by the Chilotans, on 



* It is said that some rapacious birds bring their prey alive to their 

 nests. If so, in the course of centuries, every now and then, one might 

 escape from the young birds. Some such agency is necessary, to account 

 for the distribution of the smaller gnawing animals on islands not very 

 near each other. 



