—— D’Orb. & Lafr. Voy. de l’Amer. Mer. Av. 197.
This bird is common in the dry country of central and northern Chile, where it replaces the P. Tarnii of the thickly wooded southern regions. The P. megapodius, is called by the Chilenos, “El Turco;” it lives on the ground amongst the bushes which are sparingly scattered over the stony hills. With its tail erect, every now and then it may be seen popping on its stilt-like legs from one bush to another with uncommon celerity. Its appearance is very strange and almost ludicrous, and the bird seems always anxious to hide itself. It does not run, but hops, and can hardly be compelled to take flight. The various loud cries which it utters, when concealed in the bushes, are as strange as its appearance. I opened the extremely muscular gizzards of several of these birds, and found them filled with beetles, vegetable fibres, and pebbles. Observing the structure of the gizzard, the fleshy covering to the nostrils, and the arched, rounded wing, and great scratching claws, it was easy to imagine some distant kind of relationship between these birds and those of the Gallinaceous order. I was informed that the Turco makes its nest at the bottom of a deep burrow which it excavates in the ground.
3. Pteroptochos albicollis. Kittl.
Pteroptochos albicollis. Kittl. Mem. de l’Acad. Petersb. 1. pl. iii. Vogel von Chili; p. 8. pl. iii.
Megalonyx medius. Less. Ill. Zool. pl. lx.
Megalonyx albicollis. D’Orb. & Lafr. Mag. de Zool. (1636,) Aves, p. 15.
Leptonyx albicollis. D’Orb. Voy. de l’Amer. Mer. Av. p. 196, pl. viii. f. 2.
This species is called by the Chilenos “Tapacolo,” or cover your posteriors. The name is well applied, as the Tapacolo generally carries its short tail more than erect, that is, inclined backward and toward the head. It is extremely common in central Chile; and in the same manner as the Turco replaces the Barking-bird of the southern forest land, so does the Tapacolo replace a fourth species (P. rubecula), which is an inhabitant of the same forests. The Tapacolo frequents hedge-rows, and the bushes which are scattered at a considerable elevation over the sterile hills, where scarcely another bird can exist: hence it plays a conspicuous part in the ornithology of Chile. In its manner of feeding, and quickly hopping out of a thicket and back again, in its desire of concealment, unwillingness to take flight, and nidification, it manifests a close resemblance with the P. megapodius; its appearance is not, however, so strange, and (as if in consequence) it exposes itself more readily to view. The Tapacolo is very crafty; when frightened by any person, it will remain motionless at the bottom of a bush, and will then, after a little while, try with much address to crawl away on the opposite side. It is also an active bird, and continually making a noise; these noises are various and strangely odd; one is like the cooing of doves, another like the bubbling of water, and many defy all similes. The country people say it changes its cry five times in the year, which is according, I suppose, to some change of season. I was told that the Tapacolo builds its nest at the bottom of a deep burrow, like the Turco; whereas the P. Tarnii, (as well as the P. rubecula, an inhabitant of the same districts,) makes its nest amongst the sticks just above the ground. This difference in the nidification, of the southern and northern species, is probably due to the nature of the damp forests inhabited by the former in which a burrow could hardly be made dry. I may here observe, that travelling northward from Valparaiso to Coquimbo, I met near Illapel with a bird closely allied to the Tapacolo, but which, from some slight difference in manners, I believed was a distinct species. The range of this supposed species, is from between Coquimbo and Valparaiso, to at least as far north as the valley of Copiapó.
4. Pteroptochos rubecula. Kittl.
Pteroptochos rubecula, Kittl. Vog. von Chili, p. 7. pl. ii.