Our Bird Visitors at Tom Bay. 57 



take to the water as soon as the young are hatched, being pro- 

 bably induced to do so in order the better to protect their goslings 

 from the hawks and rats. The male and female adult birds differ 

 remarkably in plumage ; that of the female being almost black, 

 with a few white dots and dashes, whereas the feathers of the 

 male are perfectly white. The sombre colour of the female is 

 probably intended as a protection during the hatching time, when 

 she remains almost continuously on the eggs, while the gander 

 does sentry in some conspicuous position adjacent. Whenever at 

 this time of the year a solitary gander is seen standing on a 

 projecting point or headland, it may safely be inferred that his 

 faithful consort is on her nest somewhere within sixty yards. 

 Even under these circumstances it is by no means an easy matter 

 to find the nest ; for the black plumage of the female assimilates 

 with the dark wind-blown seaweed and rank grass in which her 

 nest is made, and she lies so close that she will not stir until 

 almost walked on. While the birds are immature (i.e. y less than 

 one year old) the sexes are scarcely distinguishable, the plumage 

 of both male and female being an almost equal mixture of white 

 and black colours. * 



The ashy-headed brent goose (Chloephaga poliocephala), remark- 

 able for the splendid chestnut colour of its breast, is the only 

 other goose met with in these western channels. The common 

 Magellan and Falkland Islands goose (C. Magellanica) does not, 

 as a rule, extend its range to the damp western regions. 



About the islets adjacent to the Tom Bay anchorage were 

 great numbers of abandoned huts, and at some the size of the 

 shell mounds and the compactness of the bottom layers indicated 

 considerable antiquity. These mounds are principally composed 

 of mussel and limpet shells, the latter predominating ; and 

 among the interstices were great numbers of insects and worms. 

 There was one very old grass-covered mound near our anchorage, 

 of which we made a thorough examination by digging cross- 

 section trenches. Besides the usual shells, there were a few seal 



