198



On Birds and their surroundings.



only to reappear as suddenly as it went. A little farther on several

trees had bunches of a scarlet flowering parasitic plant with square

bluish green leaves. Of these flowers the Humming-birds were also

very fond.


Riding on I came to a tangle of European Brambles which

had spread there in a dreadful manner, and on them quite a flock of

Turdus magellanicus were feeding on the berries ; some flew away as

I approached, but a good many, coming probably from uninhabited

parts, were quite tame and allowed me to pass without disturbing

themselves. I also saw feeding on the fruit of those brambles, some

Phytotonia rara. This same species I saw a couple of weeks earlier

also feeding on the brambles near the road between Osorno and

Puerto Octay.


In some places the bamboos grew against the trees to a great

height, hanging down from the big branches like a creeper. On many

of the shrubs along the road, the beautiful Lapageria rosea, with its

wonderful red bell-like flowers, was quite abundant. That curious

little creeper, Tropoeolum speciosum, is also at home in those woods.


As soon as we neared some settlement the Diucas and the

Chimangos were in evidence, and when we passed a house we were

generally furiously attacked by a lot of ferocious dogs.


After having left a river, the banks of which we had gone

along some time, w r e turned uphill and passed a cut in the mountain

called the “ Devil’s Glen.” In the damp shelter of the Glen the

vegetation was most luxurious. All the beautiful evergreens and

flowering bushes grew there to perfection ; the fuchsias were enor¬

mous, and the different species of ferns most wonderful and splendid

also were the tangles of Gunnera scabra.


Once having passed the Glen and having gone over the

mountains, I came to cultivated country, and soon saw Puerto Varas

on the delightful lake of Llanquihue, before me, the snowclad Osorno

Volcano and other giants lifting their summits against the clear

evening sky.


I had decided to go north again next day, taking the steamer

to Puerto Octay, from which place I intended to ride to Osorno.

An hour before I left next morning, I noticed near the inn a tame

long-billed Parrakeet, which, with stunted wings and tail, was sitting



