The American Museum Journal 



Volume XVII NOVEMBER, 1917 Number 7 



Bird Photographing on the Falkland Islands 



By ROLLO H. BECK 



Illustrations from photographs by the Author 



Introductory Note. — The birds of the order Tubinares, or tube-uosed swimmers, comprising 

 the albatrosses, fulmars, shearwaters and petrels, pass their lives at sea, usually some dis- 

 tance from land, except when they visit the land to nest. They are, therefore, preeminently 

 pelagic. Certain species may abound off our coast, but, unless blown ashore by a severe 

 storm, or attracted to the littoral by the exceptional abundance of food, Ave may be unaware 

 of their existence. While distributed over the oceans of the globe, the Tubinares are more 

 abundant in the southern Pacific, to which region many species are restricted. Here they 

 breed on islands often so remote and inaccessible that the nesting places of numbers of 

 species are as yet unknown. 



The facts thus briefly stated render it obvious that in order to secure specimens of 

 Tubinares one must cruise in distant and tempestuous waters and encounter hardships, dan- 

 gers, and difficulties such as do not confront the collector of land-inhabiting birds. Here, in 

 a few words, we have the reasons why these birds, which exist in incalculable numbers, are 

 still, generally speaking, so rare in collections. 



It was this same rarity, in connection Avith our accompanying ignorance of the habits of 

 these winged wanderers of the high seas, that influenced Dr. L. C. Sanford and Mr. Fred- 

 erick F. Brewster to make an especial effort to fill this gap in ornithological collections, as 

 Avell as in ornithological biography. To this end they fortunately obtained the cooperation 

 of Mr. Rollo H. Beck. Mr. Beck not only has an extended experience in collecting Tubinares, 

 chiefly in the northern Pacific, but he has established a record for marine bird collecting 

 Avhicli has placed him in a class by himself as the most successful worker in this branch of 

 ornithology that the world has ever known. 



In December, 1912, Mr. Beck was dispatched by Messrs. Sanford and BreAvster to the 

 west coast of South America. He began his researches off the coast of Peru, engaging coast- 

 ing vessels, small boats, or steamers to take him far enough from shore to find the birds 

 which were the especial objects of his expedition. During the succeeding five years he ex- 

 tended his exjjlorations soutliAvard, \^i siting the Juan Fernandez Islands, passing a year in 

 the Cape Horn region, going to the Falkland Islands, and stopping at various points on the 

 Atlantic coast of South America. He also visited certain West Indian islands and in 

 Santo Domingo, Haiti and (Juba ascended to the summits of mountains before unsealed by a 

 naturalist. 



To present, even in barest outline, a record of Mr. Beck's discoveries and additions to our 

 collections of birds as Avell as to our knoAvledge of their distribution and habits, Avould re- 

 quire a volume. Here it need be said only that as a result of his labors the Brewster-Sanford 

 collection noAv contains a larger and better representation of the Tubinares inhabiting the 

 regions visited by Mr. Beck, than any other collection in the world; Avhile his collections in 

 other families of South American Avater birds, notably the gulls, terns and ducks, also are 

 unexcelled. All these specimens are deposited in the American Museum, Avhere, through the 

 generosity of Messrs. Sanford and BreAVster, they are aA'ailable for scientific investigation, 

 as are the Museum's OAvn collections. 



Mr. Beck tells here of some of his experiences, and in clue time it is designed to present a 

 complete narratiA-e of his explorations, as Avell as technical reports upon his collections. 



Frank M. Chapman. 



FULLY equipped for a sununcr's still cruising Gernuin liigh seas fleet 



work in the Falklands, avc left caused us to go on to Punta Arenas, 



Buenos xVires in October, 1914. Chile, from which place we started for 



On reaching the islands, however, the a two mouths" cruise among the islands 



unsettled conditions there due to the in the vicinity of Cape Horn. On our 



' Article and illustrations copyrighted, 1917, b.v Rollo H. Beck 



429 



