78 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : NARRATIVE. 



beneath the surface of the water, the brilliant white of the belly and 

 throat shading off into the delicate lilac grays of the sides. 



We continued our work near Corriguen Aike all through September and 

 October. With the advancing spring came important changes in the fauna 

 and flora of the region, so that our interest in our surroundings increased 

 rather than diminished, although at no time had it been lukewarm. 



The change of seasons in a semi-arid country is never so radical as in 

 one where there is an abundant rainfall and luxuriant vegetation. This 

 is especially true of the semi-arid, treeless plains of southern Patagonia. 

 Throughout the year the surface is clothed with but a scanty covering of 

 brown and withered grass, which, even in springtime, makes only a feeble 

 attempt at being green. The few flowers are, for the most part, either 

 colorless, or small and inconspicuous. Some, however, like the delicate 

 little pink oxalis, O. laciniata, one of the earliest harbingers of spring, 

 two species of Calceolaria, one or two species belonging to the Liliaceae, 

 a yellow CEnothera, and a few others are of exceptional beauty. 



While the bird fauna is pretty much the same throughout the year, there 

 are a few migrants among the land birds, and in springtime, as the 

 breeding period approaches, the new life awakened, as it were, in the avi- 

 fauna is perhaps the most notable of all the features by which the change 

 of season is announced. The ibis, Theristicus melanopsis, the presence 

 of which we had not noted during the winter months, appeared in great 

 numbers with the advancing spring. The high bluffs of the sea were at 

 night a favorite haunt of these birds, and often when returning to camp 

 from our work late in the evening, great numbers of them could be seen 

 perched in convenient places about the cliffs, or flying about in and out 

 among the crevices and ledges, accompanying their movements with 

 those peculiar and irritating squawks and screams for which these birds 

 are noted. A high cliff just in front of our tent was chosen as a roosting, 

 and later perhaps nesting, place by a colony of these birds and the dis- 

 turbance and annoyance they caused us was, at times, to say the least, 

 most distracting. Up at daylight and off to our work, after toiling all day 

 long on the cold, damp and perhaps wind-swept beach, we would return 

 late at evening and, after partaking of a hastily prepared meal, retire for the 

 night, only to have our slumbers disturbed and our much needed rest in- 

 terrupted by the harsh cries and screams of these birds, often prolonged, 

 though spasmodically, far into the night. If their noise had been con- 



