350 FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE FALKLANDS. 



AVES. 



The following fragmentary notes relating to the common 

 birds which were observed by me during my collecting trips in 

 Stanley harbour and elsewhere may be of interest. They are by 

 no means as exhaustive as I could wish, but this is due to pres- 

 sure of other work. 



I was particularly struck on landing to notice the extreme 

 tameness of the Steamer-ducks {Trachjeres cinereus) -which abound 

 in Stanley harbour. Unfit to eat, and extremely difficult to kill, 

 these birds are hardly ever molested ; and are in many instances 

 almost as tame as our domestic ducks. A pair of these birds 

 took up their permanent residence close to where my dinghey was 

 moored, and it was amusing to watch the male bird chase away 

 any intruder of the same species approaching within a radius of 

 about fifty yards of his head-quarters. During the early part of 

 December, the majority of these birds had hatched their eggs, 

 and were accompanied on the water by their young ones, usually 

 six in number ; seven being detected in only one instance. If 

 pursued in a boat at this time, the female usually made off with 

 the young bird>s ; and if hard pressed, she would splash along the 

 surface of the water at an astonishing pace, and the chicks dive 

 off in various directions, none being capable of flight ; but the 

 male bird would gallantly remain behind to dispute the approach 

 of the intruder, and attempt to frighten him by splashing the 

 water with his wings, and uttering his peculiar bull-frog note 

 very rapidly. This singular note was never uttered except on the 

 approach of danger, and appears to be made by the male bird 

 only. 



During the early mornings these birds were almost always in 

 the middle of the harbour ; but as soon as a boat appeared on the 

 water, they would at once take refuge amid the beds of Macro- 

 cystis fringing the shores, where they seemed instinctively to know 

 pursuit was difficult. They appeared to subsist chiefly on the 

 numerous species of Mollusca found along the shores, and on the 

 fronds of Macrocystis. 



Two other species of birds were almost equally abundant, the 

 Jackass Penguin [Sphenisms Magellcmicus), and a species of shag, 

 probably Phalacrocorax verrucosus ; the nesting places, ' rookeries ' 

 as they are called by the inhabitants of the Falklands, of both 



