IN THE PACIFIC. / 



The same afternoon I landed with one of the 

 officers for a ramble with our guns, taking with 

 us my retriever " Niger," and the boats' crew to 

 carry game. We found great quantities of kelp- 

 geese, ducks, and penguins along the shore : 

 these proved to be worthless. The ducks are 

 called steamer ducks from their habit of flapping 

 along the water like a paddle-wheel steamer : 

 they are not fit to eat, though their eggs are 

 good. 



Soon after we landed we came across a flock 

 of upland geese, some of which we bagged : 

 these birds are exceedingly handsome, and are 

 good eating. The male is pure white, and the 

 female a beautiful mottled brown, with chocolate- 

 coloured breast, and a bronze green bar on the 

 wings. Proceeding onwards we presently came 

 to a small loch, on which many kinds of duck 

 and geese were disporting themselves ; stalking 

 these, we opened fire on them from opposite 

 directions, and for the next few minutes our 

 guns were actively employed, until the water 

 was strewed with dead and dying, and the blue- 



