102 CALL AT BERKELEY SOUND. 



in pistol shot of a public road 5 at first I thoiig'ht 

 tliey were domesticated^ and refrained from firing*. 

 The log'g-erhead is a larg-e and heavy bird for a 

 duck : one which I shot weighed eig'hteen pounds, 

 and it has been recorded as sometimes weig'hing- as 

 much as twenty-nine pounds. From the disproj^or- 

 tionate smallness of its wing's it is incapable of 

 flig-ht, but employs these members as paddles in hur- 

 rying* along* the surface of the water when alarmed, 

 using* its feet at the same time with much splashing* 

 and apparent awkwardness, leaving* a broad wake 

 behind it on the water — hence the not inappropriate 

 name of steamer which is sometimes applied to it. 

 Not being' fit to eat, and moreover from its streng*th 

 and the closeness of its plumag*e difiicult to kill, it 

 is not much molested by sportsmen. Another bird 

 very likely to attract attention is the kelp g*oose 

 {Bcrnicla antarctica)^ g*enerally seen in pairs along* 

 the rock}^ coasts : the plumag-e of the male is of a 

 beautiful white, that of the female is dark and 

 g'lossy, variously speckled and barred. 



July 24:th. — We sailed from Port Stanley 3^ester- 

 day at daylig"ht, and after entering* Berkeley Sound 

 beat up ns far as Hog- Island, oif which we 

 anchored at sunset, at a distance from the old 

 settlement of Port Louis of about two miles and a 

 half. As the sole object in coming* here was to 

 obtain mag*netic observations at the spot used for 

 that purpose in 1842 by the Antarctic Expedition 

 under Sir James Ross, for which one day would 



