EUSTEPHANUS GALERITUS. 



Chilian Fire-crown. 



Trochilus galeritus, Mol. Hist, of Chili, p. 219.— Lath. Ind. Orn., torn. i. p. 304.— Buff. Sonn. 



Edit., torn. liii. p. 317.— VieiU. Ency. M&h. Orn., part ii. p. 532. 

 Colibri du Chili, Aud. et Vieill. Ois. dor., torn. i. p. 125. 



Chili Humming-Bird, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 170.— lb. Gen. Hist., vol. iv. p. 300. 

 Mellisuga Kingii, Vig. in Zool. Journ., vol. hi. p. 432. 

 Ornismya sephanoides, Less, et Garn. Voy. de la Coq. Ois., pi. 31. fig. 2. Less. Hist. Nat. des 



Ois. mou., p. 69. pi. 14.— Supp. p. 109. pi. 5. 

 Trochilus sephanotdes, Jard. Nat. Lib. Humming-Birds, vol. i. p. 118. pi. 12. 



forficatus, Zool. of Beagle, part hi. Birds, p. 110. 



jlammifrons, Lyell. 



Mellisuga galerita, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 113, Mellisuga, sp. 93. 

 Sephanoides galerita, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 82, Sephanoides, sp. 1. 



If our celebrated voyager Captain Cook added to his renown as a circumnavigator by discovering that the 

 Rufous Flame-bearer (Selasphorus rufus) is an inhabitant of the high north-western regions of America, scarcely 

 less interesting was the discovery made by Captain King, that the present fine species is a denizen of Terra 

 del Fuego, the extreme southern limits of that great continent, where it was observed by him flitting about 

 among flowering shrubs in the midst of a snow-storm. It is impossible to conceive why so delicate a creature 

 should voluntarily resort to situations apparently so opposite to those for which it seems fitted- and our 

 wonder that it does so is much increased, when we find that it is capable of performing migrations over a 

 vast extent of country, passing, as it does, the summer in Patagonia and the southern parts of Chili, and 

 retiring northwards to the confines of Peru, when the season becomes too rigorous for it to sustain life in 

 those regions. 



Mr. Darwin has given so admirable an account of this species in his Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beadle 

 (where by some inadvertence the name and synonyms belonging to another species have been given to it), 

 that it would be an act of injustice to this accomplished naturalist were I not to give the entire passage in 

 his own words. 



"This species," says Mr. Darwin, " is found over a space of 2500 miles on the west coast, from the hot 

 dry country of Lima to the forests of Terra del Fuego, where it has been described by Captain King as flit- 

 ting about in a snow-storm. In the wooded island of Chiloe, which has an extremely damp climate, this 

 little bird, skipping from side to side amidst the humid foliage, and uttering its acute chirp, is perhaps more 

 abundant than any other kind. It there very commonly frequents open marshy ground, where a kind of 

 Bromelia grows : hovering near the edge of the thick beds, it every now and then dashes in close to the 

 ground ; but I could not see whether it ever actually alighted. At that time of the year there were very 

 few flowers, and none whatever near the beds of Bromelia. Hence I was quite sure that they did not live 

 on honey; and on opening the stomach and upper intestine, by the aid of a lens I could plainly distinguish, 

 in a yellow fluid, morsels of the wings of Diptera, probably Tipulidae. It is evident that these birds search 

 for minute insects in their winter-quarters under the thick foliage. I opened the stomachs of several speci- 

 mens which were shot in different parts of the continent, and in all remains of insects were numerous, 

 forming a comminuted mass. In one killed at Valparaiso, I found portions of an ant. Amongst the Chonos 

 Islands, at a season when there were flowers in open places, the damp recesses of the forests appeared their 

 favourite haunt. In central Chili these birds are migratory; they make their appearance there in autumn: 

 the first arrival which I observed was on the 14th of April (corresponding to our October), but by the 20th 

 they were numerous. They stay throughout the winter, and begin to disappear in September : on the 12th 

 of October, in the course of a long walk, I saw only one individual During the period of their summer 

 migration, nests were very common in Chiloe and the Chonos Islands, countries south of Chili. Near the 

 south end of Chiloe, I found on the 8th of December a nest with eggs nearly hatched. It was of the ordi- 

 nary form, rather more than an inch in internal diameter, and not deep, composed externally of coarse and 

 fine moss neatly woven together, and lined with dry confervse, forming a very fine reddish fibrous mass. 

 I feel no doubt regarding the nature of this latter substance, as the transverse septa were quite distinct ; 

 hence we may infer that this Humming-bird builds its nest entirely of cryptogamic plants. The eggs were 



