I 



Letters, Announcements, ^r. 491 



portance. A Rhea and a Guanaco were shot, which aflforded us 

 a stock of fresh provisions ; and a Puma was seen but not shot. 

 The only night I spent there was rather an eventful one to me ; 

 for I spent it alone on the plains, having lost my way in a soli- 

 tary ramble in search of plants, and not being able to find my 

 way back to camp until the following day. 



We went over to the Falkland Islands in the middle of Ja- 

 nuarjr, and remained in Stanley Harbour till the 28th 'of the 

 month, when we began our return voyage to the Strait. On the 

 way back we passed through Falkland Sound, and spent a day 

 and a half at the Tyssen Islands. The Tussac-grass {Dactylis 

 cespitosa), which is rapidly disappearing from the East Falk- 

 land Island, flourishes herein great abundance, and the Jackass- 

 Penguin makes its burrows in the base of the clumps. I lauded 

 on one of the islands and was greatly impressed by the extra- 

 ordinary tameness of the birds. A little brownish-black bird 

 was very plentiful, hopping about in the paths between the 

 clumps of grass, more familiar than an English Robin ; and 

 the Military Starling was hardly less tame. The Skua Gulls, 

 of which there were numbers, flew about me uttering scolding 

 cries, and several times I was obliged to make them keep their 

 distance by striking at them with my stick. The Upland-Geese 

 allowed our sportsmen to get within a few yards of them, and a 

 Goose and Gander ran along before me for some distance at a 

 leisurely pace; while the common Brown Duck of the Strait, a 

 specimen of which I sent home last year, swam in flocks close 

 to the shore, and the numerous Kelp-Geese did not appear at 

 all disturbed by our presence. A Bittern with a crest of three 

 narrow white feathers was also shot and preserved. We spent 

 the 31st of January at Fox Bay, in the West Falkland ; and here 

 the birds were equally tame. It is a curious fact which I cannot 

 well account for, that several species of birds common to the 

 Falklands and the Straits of Magellan are much tamer at the 

 former than at the latter locality. Thus, in addition to the birds I 

 have mentioned, I may remark that the Steamer-Duck, which, 

 though plentiful in the Strait, is difficult of approach on account 

 of its wariness, swims about in Stanley Harbour in the most un- 

 concerned manner, seldom taking the trouble to get up steam. 



\. S. VOL. IV. 2 L 



