CHONOS ARCHIPELAGO. [CHAP. xin. 



account of its strange and varied cries. There are three very 

 distinct cries : one is called " chidnco," and is an omen of good ; 

 another, "huitreu," which is extremely unfavourable; and a third, 

 which I have forgotten. These words are given in imitation of the 

 noises ; and the natives are in some things absolutely governed by 

 them. The Chilotans assuredly have chosen a most comical little 

 creature for their prophet. An allied species, but rather larger, is 

 called by the natives " Guid-guid " (Pteroptochos Tamil), and by 

 the English the barking-bird. This latter name is well given ; for 

 1 defy any one at first to feel certain that a small dog is not yelping 

 somewhere in the forest. Just as with the cheucau, a person will 

 sometimes hear the bark close by, but in vain many endeavour by 

 watching, and with still less chance by beating ^the bushes, to see 

 the bird ; yet at other times the guid-guid fearlessly comes near. 

 Its manner of feeding and its general habits are very similar to 

 those of the cheucau. 



On the coast,* a small dusky-coloured bird (Opetiorhynchus Pata- 

 gonicus) is very common. It is remarkable from its quiet habits ; 

 it lives entirely on the sea-beach, like a sandpiper. Besides these 

 birds only few others inhabit this broken land. In my rough notes 

 I describe the strange noises, which, although frequently heard 

 within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb the general silence. 

 The yelping of the guid-guid, and the sudden whew-whew of the 

 cheucau, sometimes come from afar off, and sometimes from close 

 at hand ; the little black wren of Tierra del Fuego occasionally adds 

 its cry; the creeper (Oxyurus) follows the intruder screaming and 

 twittering; the humming-bird may be seen every now and then 

 darting from side to side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill 

 chirp; lastly, from the top of some lofty tree the indistinct but 

 plaintive note of the white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius) may 

 be noticed. From the great preponderance in most countries of 

 certain common genera of birds, such as the finches, one feels at 

 lirst surprised at meeting with the peculiar forms above enumerated, 

 as the commonest birds in any district. In central Chile two of 

 them, namely, the Oxyurus and Scytalopus, occur, although most 



* I may mention, as a proof of how great a difference there is between 

 the seasons of the wooded and the open parts of this coast, that on Sep- 

 tember 20th, in lat. 31, these birds had young ones in the nest, while 

 uuioiig the Chouos Islands, three months later in the summer, they were 

 only laying, the difference in latitude between these two places' being 

 about 700 miles. 



