The Steamer-Duck 55 



tained by a careful inspection of the condition of the 

 skeleton, and other points in the structure of the volant 

 specimens (the plumage of which entirely corresponded 

 with King's short description of Micropterus patachonicus), 

 that they were all immature individuals (probably the young 

 of the year), and having as invariably found that the 

 non-volant specimens were full-grown birds. 



" The average length of the adult birds may be stated as 

 about thirty inches, and I do not think that I ever met with 

 specimens measuring more than three feet from the tip of 

 the bill to the tip of the tail, so that I am inclined to believe 

 that the specimen mentioned by King as forty inches in 

 length was of exceptional size, and I feel no doubt that 

 there must have been some mistake as regards the birds 

 stated by Cook to weigh twenty-nine pounds. 



"The Steamer-Duck is very plentiful on the shores of 

 the Falkland Islands, in the Strait of Magellan, and in the 

 channels of Western Patagonia, as well as at Chiloe, which 

 is the northernmost locality where I have seen it. It is 

 generally to be observed in pairs, or small flocks of six or 

 seven individuals, stationed on the rocks, or swimming 

 about in the extensive beds of the 'kelp,' which girdles the 

 coast in most spots ; but, occasionally, large flocks com- 

 posed of many hundreds are to be met with. When 

 undisturbed in the water they swim quietly along, producing 

 two peculiar notes — that of the male being a sort of mew 

 rapidly repeated, while that of the female is a kind of deep 

 growl — and diligently searching the fronds of the kelp for 

 the animals to be found thereon, or diving for mussels, 

 which appear to be one of their staple articles of diet, as I 

 always found fragments of the shells in the stomachs of 

 those which I examined. The stomach is a most powerful 

 organ, with very thick muscular coats, and the lower part 

 of the windpipe or trachea of the male possesses an enlarge- 

 ment of considerable size. This, which is likewise to be 



