April 1828. BIRDS—FISH—NARROWS. 139 
intricate, I deferred trying to enter with the vessel until a more 
favourable opportunity should offer, and we returned to the 
place south of Warrington Cove, called Dighton Bay, where 
we anchored off a sandy beach in twenty fathoms, and secured 
the vessel by laying the kedge on the shore. This sandy beach 
was the first we had found in the eastern part of the Strait. 
The sand is quartzose, of a white colour, and being a novelty, 
rendered the place interesting. A stream, supplied by the 
ravines of Mount Maxwell, runs over the beach into the sea, 
and from it an abundant supply of excellent water may be 
obtained without difficulty. 
We observed no quadrupeds; but, of the feathered tribe, 
we found woodpeckers, kingfishers, and woodcocks, and in 
the sheltered nooks several humming-birds were darting about 
the flowery underwood of berberis, fuchsia, and arbutus. In 
the tide-way, at the narrow passage, the sea teemed with fish ; 
over which hovered corvorants and other sea-fowl, preying 
upon the small fry that were trying to elude their voracious 
enemies, the porpoises and seals, thousands of which were seen 
sporting about as we proceeded on our way. Whales were also 
numerous in the vicinity. probably because of an abundance of 
the small red shrimp, which constitutes their principal food. 
I went again to examine the passage, and the tide being 
against us, we were obliged to pull close to the western shore 
to benefit by the partial eddies, otherwise we could not have 
proceeded until the turn of the tide. 
These narrows, named ‘Shag’ Narrows, from the quantity 
of birds there so called by seamen, are not a hundred yards 
wide. ‘he south end is fronted by an island, from whose 
summit, about four hundred feet high, I hoped to obtain a 
good view southward, and after passing the narrows we landed 
and reached the summit. While looking around at the view, 
and preparing the theodolite, a woodcock started up from the 
long grass and walked away so leisurely, that Mr. Tarn nearly 
succeeded in striking it with a stick. This bird afforded us a 
name for the station, which we found to be at the northern side 
of a large basin, ten miles wide, and six long, terminated at 
