38 BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



The Magellan Woodpecker was discovered and described by 

 King from Port Famine. 



The series of sixteen in the British Museum, ranging from 

 Punta Arenas to Valdivia, shows considerable variation in the 

 wings and abdomen. In some adults of both sexes the inner 

 webs of the secondaries are white throughout, in others only 

 barred with white : in some the abdomen is all black, in others 

 the feathers are tipped with white. 



In my two examples, representing adults of both sexes, the 

 inner webs of the secondaries are white throughout — pinkish 

 white rather than pure white — and the abdomens pure black. 



This Woodpecker is not a common bird. I came across no 

 more than this one pair, though constantly in the forest to the 

 south of Useless Bay. At the time of my ascent of Nose Peak — 

 over eight hours severe going and nearly the same time returning 

 to the seashore through almost impenetrable forest — I did not 

 see or hear one. It may be the forest at this point is too dense. 

 In the more open portions immediately south of Useless Bay, 

 where the timber is large and much devastated by the larvse of a 

 longicorn beetle, traces of their work are everywhere remarkable, 

 but the birds themselves are rarely seen. Here, the dead standing 

 trees must number quite thirty per cent. Grim and ghostly do 

 these forests appear in this condition. The trees composing this 

 forest are two species of cinnamon beech — Fagus antarctica and 

 F. hetuloides. The insect responsible for much or all of this 

 destruction is Microplophorus magellanicus, and on the larva3 of 

 this the Woodpeckers chiefly subsist, working great holes in the 

 rotten tree trunks to get at them. 



The stomachs of these two birds contained larvae, and one 

 wing-case of the perfect beetle. 



The Ona name is "iTotereA." 



