ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 
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and sometimes reiterated. Its flight is heavy. The young have their heads and 
thighs merely mottled with scarlet. 
Sturnella militaris. Vieill . 
Sturnus militaris, Gmel. 
Etourneau des terres Magellanique, PI. enl. 113. 
I met with specimens of this bird on the east coast of the continent from the 
Falkland Islands to 31° S., and on the western coast from the Strait of Magellan 
to Lima, a space of forty degrees of latitude. 
Family. — TROCHILIDiE. 
1. Trochilus flavifrons. 
Monte Video. — November. Not abundant. 
2. Trochilus forficatus. Lath . 
Edwards' Gleanings. 
Vieill. Ois. dores, t. 1. 
Ornismya Kingii, Less. Trochilidees, pi. 38. 
This species is found over a space of 2,500 miles on the west coast, from the 
hot dry country of Lima to the forests of Terra del Fuego, where it has been 
described by Captain King as flitting about in a snow-storm. In the wooded 
island of Chiloe, which has an extremely damp climate, this little bird, skipping 
from side to side amidst the humid foliage, and uttering its acute chirp, is 
perhaps more abundant than any other kind. It there very commonly 
frequents open marshy ground, where a kind of bromelia grows : hovering near 
the edge of the thick beds, it every now and then dashes in close to the ground ; 
but I could not see whether it ever actually alighted. At that time of the year 
there were very few flowers, and none whatever near the beds of bromelia. 
Hence, I was quite sure that they did not live on honey ; and on opening the 
stomach and upper intestine, by the aid of a lens, I could plainly distinguish in a 
yellow fluid, morsels of the wings of diptera, — probably Tipulidae. It is evident 
that these birds search for minute insects in their winter quarters under the thick 
foliage. I opened the stomachs of several specimens which were shot in different 
parts of the continent, and in all remains of insects were numerous, forming a 
black comminuted mass. In one killed at Valparaiso, I found portions of an ant. 
Amongst the Chonos Islands, at a season when there were flowers in open places, 
yet the damp recesses of the forests appeared their favourite haunt. In central 
