iiii:n Qi EST i\ rill-: vkimi) or c \ri-: iionx 



tri}) (if l\\i> iiioiiili- I do iidi rciiiriiilicr 



SC't'illi:' :inv .idlllts. w liilc ;lccoiii|i;ini(Ml hy 

 voiiiil:'. w liirli coiilil imt ll\- when |mtss('(1. 

 ( >il one III' 1 lie >iiiiil I i.-lcl - w (■ I'diind ;! 

 skua's nest with t\V()t'^>:s rcidy tn li.-iidi. 

 The nest was on the opm. i:i-;iss\ to|). en- 

 tirely exposed to I 111' dii\ iiii; lijiil stiii'iiis 

 that swept overat l'r('(iu('nt intervalsiii_i;lit 

 and day. I)nt the birds, lu'iii^f (dothcd 

 with coarse lieavy feathers, seemed not 

 to mind. When we first reaehed tlie 

 ocean sid(^ of tlie islands the hcautit'nl 

 slcnder-ltillcd fulniai's were coninion.hut 

 Ii\ tlic time we had left lldcfonso Island 

 lirliind US llic riihiiai'> had |ia>>cd id 

 the soiilhwni'd Inwni'd thcii' hi-ccihni:' 

 <;"round> in ihc Sdnl h Shct hinds, scxci'al 

 hundred miles south of Ca])e Horn. 



A stranije feature of the landscape at 

 the eastern end of Caroline Island, 

 where we were anehorecl, was the tufts 

 of earth sticking up on the lee sides of 

 the great granite boulders. The wind. 

 sweeping across the island, strikes a 

 moss-covered rock, and |)erha])s, in 

 some extra heavy gale, loosens the 

 tightly dinging moss at one edge. Suc- 

 ceeding winds tear away hits of the ile- 

 eayed roots and soil which have gath- 

 ered, until finally the rock is exposed. 

 and then it is merely a matter of time 

 umil the windward face of the rock is 

 swejit clean. \\\\\ on the leewai'd side of 

 large rocks the wind has mucli less force, 

 and the roots hold the matter together so 

 firndy that a soft ])iece of vegetation 

 and earth will he sticking ujx while 

 surrounding it is a solid barren rock. 



The weather looked clearing on the 

 sixteenth and at half past one on the 

 morning of the seventeenth, as the sky 

 began to lighten, we towed out into the 

 open ,<ea again. A dead calm prevailed 

 until noon, but at nine o'clock I put 

 out in the boat and rowed along the 

 eastern slxn-e df the bay where Hoste 

 Island juts out in Jiigh perpendicular 

 cliffs, llundreils of the white-breasted 

 king shags were nesting nn the ledges. 

 with pendant-like bunches <d' t\i>sac 

 gr;is.- hanging from their n-'.-ts. and dn 



a .-mall iincliinbablc I'dck ncai- llicin I 

 >a\\ iM\ tir-1 cd|dii\ df ihc handsdnie 



|-cd-lidlei|. Iill||>||-i'd|d|'ed Scdre>li\ i^'ldls 



lie-ting. .\ light lirec/.e -prang up al 

 noon and \\c -i<idd diil lowai'd lldc- 

 fdnsd w here I hdped to IJnd the yelldw- 

 nosed albatros- nesting. That was 1 he 

 particular desideratum of onr trij). In 

 I'unta .\renas the ca|)tain hatl assured 

 me Diego Hamii'ez Island. sevcnfN-livc 

 nnles to the southward, where llie hircl- 

 wei'e supposecl pi iie-l . cuild be reached 

 in dill- small hoal. but a Tier -eeing t he 

 >iidden sl<ii'ni> llial -prang up withdul 

 an hdiii-'s warning, we decide(| lldc- 

 fonso was ([uib' far endiigh friim -bel- 

 ter to satisfy lis. and helhdllgllt it pl-db- 

 al)Ie sonu^ of the birds nested tliei-e. ( )nr 

 light l)reeze die(l down toward e\cning 

 and we stood back in the dii-ection df 

 land, heading out again at midnight. 



.\l threes in the morning tlie captain 

 I'diised nic dill in fdggv. drizzK' weather, 

 announcing the nearness of land. .\s 

 he exjiecteil a change in the wind he 

 wanted me to hasten ashore, but I held 

 off until five o'clock when, with camera 

 loaded, three of us dropped the whale- 

 boat overboard and pulled in along the 

 rocks. Px'ing oldtime .sealers, the two 

 sailors carried rifles, ex))ecting to find 

 fur seals on the rocks. We did see a 

 dozen or so at the entrance to a cave 

 and shot a cou])le. l)ut the expected 

 herd was not there. Black-browed al- 

 batrosses by the dozen sat on the stee]) 

 sides and on top of the islaml. or sailed 

 <ivei' us, som(> alighting on the water 

 and others sweeping over and then back 

 again to tbt'ir nests. We rowed a mile 

 or two until a little Icilge gave us a 

 footing to climb the sli|)pery penguin 

 trail to where some of tlie albatros.<es 

 were nesting. 'I'lie nests. c<mlaining 

 newly hatched young, were built up of 

 mud picked np near at hand, and re- 

 luinded me at once of namiiigo nests, 

 riose by and under the albatross 

 nest? rockbdppcr and jackass penguins 

 had nests with liair-grdwn ydiing. and 

 I was bii.-\ with the camera^ I'dr an 



