Tapacolas 



6 39 



chestnut-brown above, with the lores, a stripe over the eye and the under parts 

 white, the breast and abdomen being more or less thickly marked with trans- 

 verse spots of brownish black; its length is eight and a half inches. Darwin 

 found it extremely common in central Chile, where he says it "frequents hedge- 

 rows and bushes which are scattered at a considerable elevation over the sterile 

 hills, where scarcely another bird can exist. TheTapacola is very crafty; when 

 frightened by any person, it will remain motionless at the bottom of a bush, 

 and will then, after 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 strangely odd : one is like the cooing of Doves, another like 



FIG. 188. Large-footed Tapacola, Hylactes megapodius. 



the bubbling of water, and many defy all similes." He was told, but did not him- 

 self observe it, that the Tapacola builds its nest at the bottom of a deep burrow. 

 Allied to the last but differing in the shorter, more curved bill are the two 

 species of Rhinocrypta, of which the form inhabiting western Argentina and 

 northern Patagonia is known as the Gallito or Little Cock (R. lanceolata). About 

 nine inches in length, it is olive-brown above, becoming reddish brown on the 

 head and neck, while the throat and upper breast are gray, becoming pure 

 white on the middle of the abdomen and bright chestnut on the sides. The 

 head is conspicuously crested, and as the bird struts and runs about on the 

 ground with the tail erect and the crest elevated, it looks very much like a small 

 domestic fowl, whence of course its common name. Mr. Hudson speaks of it 

 as a very common bird on the Rio Negro, frequenting thickets and making a 

 great protest with loud, scolding notes, but keeping itself carefully concealed. 

 "At the same time," he adds, "it is extremely inquisitive, and no sooner does it 

 spy an intruder in the bush than the warning note is sounded, whereupon every 



