512 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



placed on almost inaccessible ledges in the face of the rocky cliff, which 

 was streaked all over with vertical white lines from the droppings of the 

 birds. This species of cormorant is very abundant throughout all the 

 channels. A second species, a jet black bird {Phalacrocorax imperialis), 

 builds its nest in trees; and there was a characteristic 'rookery' of this 

 tree cormorant at Port Bermejo, where we anchored in the month of 

 November. It was a quiet, sequestered place, where two old and leafless 

 beech trees overhung the margin of an inland pond. The nests were 

 constructed of dried grass, and were placed among the terminal branches 

 of the trees. These funereal-looking birds, sitting on or perching by 

 their scraggy nests on the bare superannuated trees, formed a truly dismal 

 spectacle. They uttered, too, a peculiar cawing sound, which was not 

 cheerful, and so remarkably like the grunting of a pig, that before I saw 

 the rookery I was for some time peeping through the bushes and looking 

 for tracks, imagining myself in the neighbourhood of some new pachyder- 

 matous animal. It seemed as if the birds took the grunting business by 

 turns, only one at a time giving tongue. 



"I was surprised to see how neatly they alighted on the branches. 

 There was none of the awkward shuffling motion of wings and feet 

 which they exhibit when alighting on the ground or on the water ; but, 

 on the contrary, each fresh arrival soared on to its perching place as 

 smoothly and cleverly as a hawk, and grasped the branch firmly with its 

 claws. At another tree rookery in Swallow Bay I noticed that when some 

 of the birds on flying in observed my presence, they would rise high 

 above the tree, and remain soaring around in circles till I had gone 

 away. The method of soaring was to all appearance as smooth, steady, 

 and devoid of effort as that of a vulture. And yet the cormorant is a 

 heavy short-winged bird, that rises from the ground with difficulty, and 

 whose ordinary method of flight is most laborious." (Cruise, "Alert," 

 1883, pp. 106-107.) 



Phalacrocorax magellanicus (Gmelin). 



Magellanic Shag, Lath. Gen. Syn. iii. pt. 2, p. 604 (1785 : Tierra del Fuego). 

 Pelecanus magellanicus, Gm. Syst. Nat. I. p. 576 {1788) ex Lath.; Forst. 



Descr. Anim. p. 356 (1844: Tierra del Fuego: Staten Isl.) 

 Hydrocorax magellanicics, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. viii. p. 87 (181 7). 

 Hydrocorax leucogaster, Vieill. torn cit. p. 90. 



