72 



which amongst other things of less interest I found two 

 beautiful males of Anas specularis or Pato cle las Cordilleras^ 

 as they called them there. 



As these birds are as far as I know never imported alive 

 I noted the colour of the soft parts. 



The legs are of a beautiful orange yellow, the iris is 

 blackbrown, the bill is bluegrey with elongated square 

 black spot on the top near the forehead, and black nail. 



The wing speculum is beautiful beyond description' and 

 it is a great pity that we never see these birds alive in 

 Europe ! 



In the evening I took the train and with my Antarctic 

 Groose, my Longbilled Parrakeets, my Fuegian Finch and 

 my luggage arrived next morning in Santiago. 



There I spent a few^ days, and one evening when walking 

 in the Quinta Normal I was rather surprised at seeing a 

 giant redwood tree {Taxodium seAnpervirens) and some equally 

 lofty trees around it full of large birds which on closer 

 inspection proved to be all Nightherons^ Nycticorax obscurus. 



What those birds did in the centre of a large town I 

 cannot understand. When I went to the office to get a 

 railway-ticket to Buenos Ayres I was told that a snowfall 

 in the Andes had stopped the road and that they could" 

 not guarantee my getting through. 



As the train would only leave in a couple of days they 

 hoped however that the line would be cleared in time. 



On the appointed day I heard to my satisfaction that 

 everything was all right "pro tempore" — and I embarked 

 myself and my belongings at five o^clock at night at San- 

 tiago station. The train in this late season does not go 

 through at once but one has to spend the night at Los Andes. 



As the train was crowded and the accommodation at 

 Los Andes limited it took a lot of talking to get a fairly 

 good room which I had to share with a fellow traveller. 



Los Andes is beautifully situated in the mountains and 

 the cold pure mountain air was quite delightful. 



Next morning at 10 I believe, we started for good, getting 

 well into the mountains. 



Notes from the Leyden Miuseum, "Vol. XXXV. 



