494 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



movants and three species of Grebe occur. Two of the latter are 

 small, and I have got specimens of them ; the other, which is 

 much larger, and which I have seen at the eastern entrance of 

 the Strait, I have not obtained. I saw two or three specimens 

 of Rhynchops flying along the surface of the water, ploughing it 

 with the under mandible ; and the Strait Kingfisher was common. 

 A grey Bittern, the same as one of which I subsequently got a 

 specimen in the Messier Channel, was rather numerous; and a 

 small white Heron or Egret, which I afterwards got at Port 

 Otway, likewise was occasionally seen. The marine zoology is 

 rather rich apparently, for I got a considerable number of Mol- 

 lusks. Crustaceans, and Annelids. That curious fish the Callo- 

 rhynchus appears to be rather common, as, though I have only 

 got one small specimen of it, 1 frequently saw its curious horny 

 egg lying on the sandy beaches. On our way back to the 

 Channel we spent part of a day at Port Otway (Cape Tres 

 Montes). Two Sea-Otters, the white Egret I have mentioned, 

 and some Kelp-Geese were shot there. We re-entered the Mes- 

 sier Channel on the 17th of April, and there remained at one or 

 other of the harbours tdl the 13th of this month, encountering 

 a great amount of rainy weather. At Halt Bay, one of our an- 

 chorages, I got a Pteropiochus and a little Grebe which seems 

 to be rather common throughout the Channels and at Chiloe. 

 We saw a good many Sea-Otters and several Seals, but did not 

 succeed in getting any; and I saw the tracks of Deer in one or 

 two places, but never got a sight of the animals themselves. I 

 also procured a Gallinazo*, which appears to be a rare bird in 

 the Channels, but little else besides. The weather became so 

 hopelessly bad (tremendous and continual rain) that we left the 

 Channel on the 13th on our northwai'd route. On the 16th we 

 reached Port San Pedro, at the southern extremity of Chiloe, 

 and on the 18th Huite, a beautiful little harbour, thirty or 

 forty miles distant from Ancud. Here we remained a couple 

 of days to cut wood, our coal having run short, so that I had 

 au opportunity of landing and collecting what fell in my 



* Apparently a different species from the one common at Chiloe, as the 

 naked head is red instead of black, and the plumage is not so dark. [No 

 doubt Cathartes aura. — P. L. S] 



