creeper (Oxyurus) follows 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 meeting 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 insignificant 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 been so. If America south of 37 degs. 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. We should 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 (quebrantahuesos, or
break-bones, of the Spaniards), is a common bird, both in the inland
channels and on the open sea. In its habits and manner of flight, there
is a very close resemblance with the albatross; and as with the
albatross, a person may watch it for hours together without seeing on
what it feeds. The "break-bones" is, however, a rapacious bird, for it
was observed by some of the officers at Port St. Antonio chasing a
diver, which tried to escape by diving and flying, but was continually
struck down, and at last killed by a blow on its head. At Port St.
Julian these great petrels were seen killing and devouring young gulls.
A second species (Puffinus cinereus), which is common to Europe, Cape
Horn, and the coast of Peru, is of much smaller size than the P.
gigantea, but, like it, of a dirty black colour. It generally
frequents the inland sounds in very large flocks: I do not think I ever
saw so many birds of any other sort together, as I once saw of these
behind the island of Chiloe. Hundreds of thousands flew in an irregular
line for several hours in one direction. When part of the flock
settled on the water the surface was blackened, and a noise proceeded
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