CENTRITES NIGER 65 



thawing in spring ; the second, at about 500 feet, a month 

 later. In spring and summer I found it very numerous 

 on the flats between Useless Bay Settlement and the sea shore. 

 It was then tame, whereas on the mountains it was so wild 

 as to be almost unapproachable with a collector's gun. It is 

 remarkable for the habit of perching on hummocks, and flying 

 on ahead of one innumerable times. On perching, it flutters 

 its wings. It runs along the ground in short sharp rushes,, 

 carrying its head high in the air, very much after the manner 

 of the Wheatear (Saxicola oenanthe). 



Darwin says : — " It frequents open places, so that in wooded 

 countries it lives entirely on the sea beaches, or near the summits 

 of mountains where trees do not grow. In the excessively sterile 

 upper valleys of the Cordillera of Northern Chili I met with this 

 bird, even at a height of little less than 10,000 ft., where the last 

 traces of vegetation occur, and where no other bird lives. It 

 generally moves about in very small flocks, and frequents rocky 

 streams and marshy ground ; it hops and flies from stone to stone, 

 very much after the manner of our Whin chat {Motacilla ruhetrd) ; 

 but when alighting it frequently expands its tail like a fan." 



In the Falkland Islands, Abbott found it not very com- 

 mon and generally near the shore. He says : — " It is very 

 much like a "Wheatear {Saxicola) in its habits. During the 

 breeding season it resorts to the stone-runs, or watercourses, 

 where it breeds." 



CENTRITES NIGER (Boddaert) 

 Alouette noire de la Encenada, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Ois., v, pi. 



dccxxxviii, 1778. 

 Alauda nigra, Boddaert, Table, Blanches Enluminees, Hist. Nat. d'Au- 



henton, p. 46, 1783. 

 Alondra de la espalda rOXa, Asara, Bdxaros, Baraguay y La Blata, 



ii, p. 15, 1805. 

 Anthus fulvUS, D'Orhigny, Voy. Amer. Merid., Ois., p. 223, 1835. 



10 * 



