Bill I) J'J/OToah'AriIJi\G ON TUJ'J FALKLAND JSLANDb iiu 



Iwo iiiimiU's" walk right at their hack 



llooi'S. 



A .^hort (lislaiur beyoiid the peDguiu 

 (■t>h)iiv a gi()ii|) of gulls was e.vaiiiijied, 

 and just heyuiul them, on a gravelly bar 

 t)versj)i'ead with dry kelp, the darting 

 leriis had placed their eggs. A little 

 liigher on the beach and Just back of 

 I lie terns' nest an oyster catcher's nest 

 revealed itself. From this spot I walked 

 a lojig way over the closely cropped 

 i)asture, sometimes following the shore 

 a sliort distance, in which case a scream- 

 ing gull or else a beguiling oyster 

 catchei', or perhaps both, would en- 

 dea\or to distract my attention from 

 tl)eir easily found nests. On one of 

 these dips to the water 1 flushed a kelp 

 goose from her nest close by the water's 

 edge. It contaijied only four eggs but 

 was heavily lined with white down 

 which completely concealed the eggs 

 when the bird walked away from it. 

 J>eing jjlaced between great bunches of 

 decaying tussac roots, I could not get a 

 view of the bird with the nest, but she 

 and her mate were nearly as tame as the 

 [)air encountered the previous day with 

 young. lUick among the diddle-dee 

 again one of the little white-chinned 

 l^lovers was started from a nest contain- 

 ing two eggs and a newly hatch(Ml 

 youtig l)ii-(l. This nest was very similai- 

 in eojiipnsil ion to that of the hrown- 

 breasteil |)li>\('r found on the east end 

 of the island. 



Bui it was a( the extreme west end of 

 the island that one of the most inter- 

 esting sights met my eyes. There a 

 colony of a thousand or more pairs of 

 llic handsome blue-eyed shags was nest- 

 ing. Heing white below and a shiny 

 Mnish black above, with a bright blue 

 s|»ace about the eye, they far exceed our 

 jNorth American corn'orants in beauty. 

 Close along (he windward side of the 

 nesting birds sat more than a doxen 

 slaias ready to snatch the eggs from 

 any nest a negligent bird should leave 

 uncovert'd. Just beyond the ro(tkery 

 aloiiu' the edge of the cliffs sat about 



twenty-li\e of Uie snowy she.ithbiJls. Jji 

 ajipearance they look slightly like win- 

 ter ptarmigan, although in ilight re- 

 sembling pigeons. In summer they li\e 

 principally on oifal picked up about the 

 nesting shags and the penguins. hi 

 winter small shelUish constitute their 

 food. In the Falklands they are Jiot 

 known to nest, the breeding birds going- 

 south to rear their young. Several of 

 the cormorants from the extensive col- 

 ony were collecting material for their 

 nests as I came near the site. They 

 flew a short distance to the decaying 

 tussac heaps and rapidly pulled out 

 mouthfuls of the dead grass roots. 

 Their quick nervous pulls at tlie tough 

 roots were quite dilferent from the 

 leisurely style of tlie gentoo penguiji in 

 picking out its nesting material. r«»th, 

 however, use the same furtive grasjiing 

 method when it comes to helping them- 

 selves from a neighbor's nest. 



On the journey back to the set I le- 

 nient in the afternoon, we visited a pond 

 where several dozen geese were wading 

 or resting. When they saw me swing 

 toward them, all started for tlie beach, 

 which Avas a short distance away. The 

 entire Hock swam out some distance 

 from shore and waited until my depar- 

 ture before returning to land again. 

 The greater number \vei-e molting hirds 

 and unable to lly, Init they wo'c joined 

 by several others that llcw toward I hem 

 from some tli stance away. Although 

 the J^higlish have occupied the i^'alk- 

 lands since about \So2, ami [u-ohahly 

 have been killing giH'se cnci- since, the 

 birds at the present time >liow much 

 curiosity toward mankind. I repeat- 

 edly saw geese that were feeding two 

 hundred or more yards distant lly 

 toward me and alight, fre(piently within 

 gunshot. At one settlement near I'ort 

 Stanley where I shot scxcral geese for 

 specimens, a whole Hock walked U}» to 

 within sixty yanls of nic, the feeding 

 birds scattered over the hillside Hying 

 down to join them. This occurre(l with 

 both npland and the smaller hrant geese. 



