It is also an active bird, and continually making a noise: these noises are various and strangely odd; some are like the cooing of doves, others like the bubbling of water, and many defy all similes.

The country people say it changes its cry five times in the year--according to some change of season, I suppose.

(12/4.

It is a remarkable fact that Molina, though describing in detail all the birds and animals of Chile, never once mentions this genus, the species of which are so common, and so remarkable in their habits.
Was he at a loss how to classify them, and did he consequently think that silence was the more prudent course?
It is one more instance of the frequency of omissions by authors on those very subjects where it might have been least expected.) Two species of humming-birds are common; Trochilus forficatus is found over a space of 2500 miles on the west coast, from the hot dry country of Lima to the forests of Tierra del Fuego--where it may be seen flitting about in snow-storms.

In the wooded island of Chiloe, which has an extremely humid climate, this little bird, skipping from side to side amidst the dripping foliage, is perhaps more abundant than almost any other kind.