of the Wat erf oivl of South America. 481 



In Slight Harbour, Happner Soimd, in the Gulf of 

 Penas, I saw a solitary white gander sitting on the rocks 

 and pebbles on the sea-shore. It seemed to be the king of 

 a whole tribe of Phalacrocorax albiventer, one P. hrasili- 

 ensis, and numerous Lai'us dominicanus, which were 

 surrounding it. 



The northern coast of the Island of Ascencion (the most 

 northern island of the Chonos Archipelago) seems to be 

 one of the strongholds of the Antarctic Goose. They were 

 numerous in small famiHes all along the water's edge, and 

 the captain of the vessel, who had travelled along this coast 

 for many years, told me this was always the case. In this 

 place the birds were called " Kaiks " by the natives, whilst 

 in the south they called them " Kaikenes.'' 



These Geese are said never to go inland and never to 

 gather into large flocks like other species of Geese. 



At Melinka I went ashore, and, following the coast, I had 

 an excellent opportunity of studying the Geese, as they were 

 very tame. The adult male is a beautiful bird. It is about 

 the size of the Ashy-headed Goose, but stouter in build. 

 The whole plumage is snowy white ; the bill is black, and 

 so are the glistening large eyes. The legs and feet aie a 

 light citron-yellow. The adult female has a yellowish flesh- 

 coloured bill, a yellow ring round the eyes, and pale yellow 

 legs. The general colour is dark brown and black finely 

 streaked with white. The head is brown. The shoulders, 

 back, and tail are white, and very conspicuous when the 

 bird flies. 



The young birds of the year, before they have moulted, are 

 more or less similar to the female, but the colours are duller. 

 The tail is white with black spots, and the bill and legs are 

 blackish. 



I think it probable that at the first moult the young male 

 moults all his feathers except the large flight-feathers, which 

 are retained until the second moult. The result of this is a 

 white bird with black flight-feathers, with yellow legs and 

 black bill. I saw several birds in this stage at Melinka. 



A friendly native sold me a living bird in its first plumage, 



