1835.] ORNITHOLOGY. 289 
guid fearlessly comes near. Its manner of feeding and its general 
habits are very similar to those of the cheucau. 
On the coast,* a small dusky-coloured bird (Opetiorhynchus 
Patagonicus) is very common. It is remarkable trom its quiet 
habits; it lives entirely on the sea-beach, like a sandpiper. 
Besides these birds only few others inhabit this broken land. 
In my rough notes I describe the strange noises, which, although 
frequently heard within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb 
the general silence. The yelping of the guid-guid, and the sudden 
whew-whew of the cheucau, sometimes come from afar off, and 
sometimes from close at hand; the little black wren of Tierra 
del Fuego occasionally adds its ery ; the creeper (Oxyurus) fol- 
lows the intruder screaming and twittering ; the humming-bird 
may be seen every now and then darting from side to side, and 
emitting, like an insect, its shrill chirp; lastly, from the top of 
some lofty tree the indistinct but plaintive note of the white- 
tufted tyrant-flycatcher (Myiobius) may be noticed. From the 
great preponderance in most countries of certain common genera 
of birds, such as the finches, one feels at first surprised at meet- 
ing with the peculiar forms above enumerated, as the commonest 
birds in any district. In central Chile two of them, namely, the 
Oxyurus and Scytalopus, occur, although most rarely. When 
finding, as in this case, animals which seem to play so insig- 
nificant a part in the great scheme of nature, one is apt to wonder 
why they were created. But it should always be recollected, that 
in some other country perhaps they are essential members of 
society, or at some former period may have beenso. If America 
south of 87° were sunk beneath the waters of the ocean, these 
two birds might continue to exist in central Chile for a long 
period, but it is very improbable that their numbers would 
increase. Weshould then see a case which must inevitably have 
happened with very many animals. : 
These southern seas are frequented by several species of 
Petrels: the largest kind, Procellaria gigantea, or nelly (que- 
brantahuesos, or break-bones, of the Spaniards), is a common 
* I may meution, as a proof of how great a difference there is between 
the seasons of the wooded and the open parts of this coast, that on September 
vutn, in iat. 34°, these birds had young ones in the nest, while among the 
Chonos Islands, three months later in the summer, they were only laying; 
the difference in latitude between these two places being about 700 miles. 
