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. Megalonyx rubecula, _D’Orb. & Lafr._ Mag. de Zool. 1837, p. 16. Megalonyx rufogularis, _D’Orb. & Lafr._ Voy. de l’Amer. Mer. pl. 7, f. 2. Leptonyx rubecula, _D’Orb. & Lafr._ Voy. de l’Amer. Mer. Av. p. 196.