50 WHAT MR. DARWIN SAW. 



PATAGONIA, 



for defence, because the rubbish is chiefly placed above the 

 mouth of the burrow, which enters the ground at a very 

 small slope. No doubt there must be some good reason, 

 but the inhabitants of the country are quite ignorant of it. 

 The only fact which I know like it is the habit of an ex- 

 traordinary Australian bird (the Calodera maculata), which 

 makes an elegant vaulted passage of twigs for playing in, 

 and which collects near the spot land and sea shells, bones, 

 and the feathers of birds, especially brightly -colored ones. 

 Mr. Gould tells ine that the natives, when they lose any 

 hard object, search these playing passages; and he has 

 known a tobacco-pipe thus recovered. 



THE SEAL. 



I ACCOMPANIED the captain of the Beagle in a boat to 

 the head of a deep creek in the Chorios Archipelago. On 

 the way the number of seals that we saw was quite aston- 

 ishing: every bit of flat rock, and parts of the beach, were 

 covered with them. They appeared to be of a loving dis- 

 position, and lay huddled together, fast asleep, like so many 

 pigs; but even pigs would have been ashamed of their dirt, 

 and of the foul smell which came from them. Each herd 

 was watched by the patient but ill-boding eyes of the tur- 

 key-buzzard. This disgusting bird, with its bald scarlet 

 head, formed to wallow in putridity, is very common on the 

 west coast of South America, and their attendance on the 

 seals shows on what they rely for their food. We found 

 the water (probably only that of the surface) nearly fresh : 



