488 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



time I saw a fine herd of Sea-Lions reposing on the shelving 

 beach at Dungeuess Spit. While at Sandy Point, where we 

 spent some time shortly after, I procured specimens of the eggs 

 of a Swan, the Steamer-Duck, the Upland- Goose, the liandueria 

 [Theristicus melanops), and one or two species of Gulls, all of 

 which had been brought from Elizabeth Island, where many 

 birds breed during the months of October and November. A 

 shooting party, which spent nearly a week at the island while the 

 ship continued at Sandy Point, were very successful, bringing on 

 board on their return upwards of 180 of the Upland-Geese, and 

 three Swans. Two of these were Cygnus tiigricollis and the third 

 a considerably smaller species, which corresponds with King's 

 description of his C. anatoides in the Appendix on Birds in the 

 first volume of the ' Voyages of the "Adventure^' and "Beagle."^ 

 This latter bird I likewise met with at the Gallegas River, which 

 we visited later in the season to look for a deposit of tertiary 

 manmialian bones. T find that neither in it nor in C. nigricollis 

 is the keel of the sternum at all excavated for the reception of a 

 fold of the trachea. At Cape Negro, where we spent a few days 

 at the end of Novembei', I obtained a fine member of the Fal- 

 conida, large enough to merit the title of an Eagle, as well as 

 one of the black Starlings, which I find extend from the Cape 

 westwai'd through the Strait and along the west side of Pata- 

 gonia to Chiloe; also a curious little rodent with very thick 

 hair. A few days later (December 4th) I visited the small island 

 of Santa Magdalena. On approaching it in the ship it pre- 

 sented a very remarkable appearance, being white with birds in 

 many places, and a large herd of Sea-Lions congregated on the 

 beach. On coming still closer in the boat in which 1 landed, 

 I found the water populous with the latter animals, which, from 

 being never disturbed by man, were apparently much asto- 

 nished and very little dismayed by our appearance. A large 

 herd followed the boat at the distance of a few j^ards, raising 

 themselves out of the water as high as their shoulders, staring 

 fixedly at us, showing their large teeth, and occasionally emit- 

 ting a cry between a grunt and a roar, while numbers of an- 

 other Seal swam about in every direction, bending their bodies 

 into a curve and leaping high out of tlie water. The herd of 



