June, 1834. 



ZOOLOGY. 



301 



Button for saying that neither of these animals are found. 

 I must confess to an exception to the rule, in the presence 

 of a small mouse, of a species occurring likewise in Pata- 

 gonia. 



The gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds : occasion- 

 ally the plaintive note of a white tufted tyrantrflycatcher may 

 be heard, concealed near the summit of the most lofty trees ; 

 and more rarely the loud strange cry of a black woodpecker, 

 with a fine scarlet crest on its head. A little, dusky-coloured 

 wren {Scytalopus fuscus) hops in a skulking manner among 

 the entangled mass of the fallen and decaying trunks. But 

 the creeper [Sj/tiallaxis Tupinieri) is the commonest bird in 

 the country. Throughout the beech forests, high up and low 

 down, in the most gloomy, wet, and impenetrable ravines, it 

 may be met with. This little bird no doubt appears more 

 numerous than it really is, from its habit of following, with 

 seeming curiosity, any person who enters these silent woods : 

 continually uttering a harsh twitter, it flutters from tree to 

 tree, within a few feet of the intruder's face. It is far from 

 wishing for the modest concealment of the true creeper 

 [Certhia familiaris), nor does it, like that bird, run up and 

 down the trunks of trees ; but industriously, after the manner 

 of a willow wren, hops about, and searches for insects on 

 every twig and branch. In the more open parts three or 

 four species of finches, a thrush, a starling (or Icterus), two 

 furnarii, and several hawks and owls occur. 



The absence of any species whatever in the whole class of 

 Reptiles is a marked feature in the zoology of this country, as 

 well as in that of the Falkland Islands. I do not ground this 

 statement merely on my own observation, but I heard it 

 from the Spanish inhabitants of the latter place, and from 

 Jemmy Button with regard to Tierra del Fuego. On the 

 banks of the St. Cruz in 50° south, I saw a frog ; and it is 

 not improbable that these animals, as well as lizards, may 

 be found as far south as the Strait of Magellan, where the 

 country retains the character of Patagonia ; but within the 



