j on Birds and their surroundings.



197



Riding on I descended a slope to cross a river and entered a

virgin forest, mostly composed of Urmus trees, although there were

a good many antarctic beeches and a great variety of other trees and

shrubs as is usual in those parts of Chile, which makes those woods

so lovely. The trees were full of Long-billed Parrakeets ( Henicog-

naihus leptorhynchus ) which screamed loudly and were very active,

flying about in small flocks or perching on the tops of the giant

trees. These birds were probably feeding on the seeds of the Urmus

trees, which are very numerous, and on the countless other seeds

and berries as well (the Urmus fruit looks like a small olive).


Although the bill of the Long-billed Parrakeets looks as if it

was made to dig up roots or bulbs, I never saw any of them on

the ground, as long as I was in Chile, in places frequented b}^ those

birds. My tame birds of this species at home, however, delight in

digging up the turf in their aviary and eat the roots of the grass.


The woods also resounded with the calls of the large grey

white-backed Woodpecker (Colaptes pitius) which at this time of the

year goes about in small parties. Riding through woods in Chile I

had often heard a curious trembling noise in the thickest parts of

the forest, but I had never seen the bird itself, although the noise

followed one. This time I was more fortunate, and saw that it

originated from a beautiful golden-brown and black-brown little

creeper-like bird with white underparts, which apparently lived in

the thickest jungle. This bird is Oxyurus spinicauda, and is quite a

feature in the Chilian forest from the way it has of following the

traveller. Although it looks in shape so much like our Tree Creeper

(Certhia familiaris) it does not usually seem to creep up the stems

of the trees like our bird. It is always to be found in the bushes

and tangles at the foot of the big trees, and I never saw it against a

tree. In Punta Arenas, or better in a forest near it, I saw numbers

of them feeding on the fat in the carcase of a lamb which hung in a

tree near a goldwasher’s hut. On that occasion they were quite tame.


In the damp places near streams the fuchsia bushes were very

beautiful, as well as the finely subdivided tall ferns with black stems.

In the fuchsias one could usually see a Golden-crowned Humming¬

bird ( Eustephanus galeritus), which appeared suddenly, screaming

loudly, to hover under the flowers. It very quickly disappeared,



