8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



wrens, swallows, finches, flycatchers and hawks to be seen daily, but all 

 in unfamiliar guise. 



The Great Magellan owl was enough like our great horned owl to 

 be taken for the same bird. The same might be said of two pygmy 

 owls shot at Laredo Bay, which closely resemble those of our western 

 states and are among the smallest of known owls. The Magellan 

 pygmy, notwithstanding the abundance of its fluffy plumage, is a mere 

 featherweight of less than four ounces. The burrowing owl and spar- 



Glaciek Ice. Ayre Sound, Straits of Magellan. 



row-hawk did not differ appreciably from home species. In these lati- 

 tudes the burrowing owl inhabits excavations made by the " viscacha," 

 a rodent of the chinchilla family which lives in communities after the 

 manner of our northern " prairie clog." Lacking the viscachas' burrow, 

 it digs its own. The common barn owl and short-eared owl of world- 

 wide distribution were both present. 



Kingfishers, woodpeckers and goldfinches were masquerading along 

 the straits in strange garb, and best disguised of all, a meadow lark with 

 bright crimson breast. 



A courageous species of humming-bird 4 penetrates southward into 

 the chilly wilds of Fuegia, and we procured specimens within a few 

 hours of a snow squall which greeted us in one of the western channels. 

 The Patagonian burrowing parrot we found within a few miles of 

 Punta Arenas, where it seemed as much out of place in the driving mist 

 as it would in Alaska. 



In the dense forests along Smythe Channel we heard and obtained 



4 Eus teph anus rjaleritus. 



