THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



151 



ing they took flight seaward. From these facts I suspect 

 that the Rhynchops generally fishes by night, at which time 

 many of the lower animals come most abundantly to the 

 surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these birds 

 opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sand-banks on 

 the coast of Chile: from their weak bills, with the lower 

 mandible so much projecting, their short legs and long 

 wings, it is very improbable that this can be a general habit. 



In our course down the Parana, I observed only three 

 other birds, whose habits are worth mentioning. One is a 

 small kingfisher (Ceryle Americana) ; it has a longer tail 

 than the European species, and hence does not sit in so stiff 

 and upright a position. Its flight also, instead of being di- 

 rect and rapid, like the course of an arrow, is weak and 

 undulatory, as among the soft-billed birds. It utters a low 

 note, like the clicking together of two small stones. A small 

 green parrot (Conurus murinus), with a grey breast, ap- 

 pears to prefer the tall trees on the islands to any other 

 situation for its building-place. A number of nests are 

 placed so close together as to form one great mass of sticks. 

 These parrots always live in flocks, and commit great ravages 

 on the corn-fields. I was told, that near Colonia 2500 were 

 killed in the course of one year. A bird with a forked tail, 

 terminated by two long feathers (Tyrannus savana), and 

 named by the Spaniards scissor-tail, is very common near 

 Buenos Ayres: it commonly sits on a branch of the ombu 

 tree, near a house, and thence takes a short flight in pursuit 

 of insects, and returns to the same spot. When on the wing 

 it presents in its manner of flight and general appearance 

 a caricature-likeness of the common swallow. It has the 

 power of turning very shortly in the air, and in so doing 

 opens and shuts its tail, sometimes in a horizontal or lateral 

 and sometimes in a vertical direction, just like a pair of 

 scissors. 



October 16th. — Some leagues below Rozario, the western 

 shore of the Parana is bounded by perpendicular cliffs, 

 which extend in a long line to below San Nicolas; hence it 

 more resembles a sea-coast than that of a fresh-water river. 

 It is a great drawback to the scenery of the Parana, that, 

 from the soft nature of its banks, the water is very muddy. 



