IX HABITS OF SOME BIRDS 209 



fragments have been levelled into one continuous sheet. If 

 during the earthquake^ which in 1835 overthrew Concepcion, 

 in Chile, it was thought wonderful that small bodies should 

 have been pitched a few inches from the ground, what must 

 we say to a movement which has caused fragments many tons 

 in weight to move onwards like so much sand on a vibrating 

 board, and find their level ? I have seen, in the Cordillera of 

 the Andes, the evident marks where stupendous mountains 

 have been broken into pieces like so much thin crust, and the 

 strata thrown on their vertical edges ; but never did any scene, 

 like these " streams of stones," so forcibly convey to my mind 

 the idea of a convulsion, of which in historical records we might 

 in vain seek for any counterpart : yet the progress of knowledge 

 will probably some day give a simple explanation of this 

 phenomenon, as it already has of the so long thought inex- 

 plicable transportal of the erratic boulders which are strewed 

 over the plains of Europe. 



I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands. I have 

 before described the carrion-vulture or Polyborus. There are 

 some other hawks, owls, and a few small land -birds. The 

 waterfowl are particularly numerous, and they must formerly, 

 from the accounts of the old navigators, have been much more 

 so. One day I observed a cormorant playing with a fish which 

 it had caught. Eight times successively the bird let its prey 

 go, then dived after it, and although in deep water, brought it 

 each time to the surface. In the Zoological Gardens I have 

 seen the otter treat a fish in the same manner, much as a cat 

 does a mouse : I do not know of any other instance where 

 dame Nature appears so wilfully cruel. Another day, having 

 placed myself between a penguin (Aptenodytes demersa) and 

 the water, I was much amused by watching its habits. It was 

 a brave bird ; and till reaching the sea, it regularly fought and 

 drove me backwards. Nothing less than heavy blows would 

 have stopped him ; every inch he gained he firmly kept, standing 



cependant rangees, comme si elles avoient ete amoncelees negligemment pour 

 remplir des ravins. On ne se lassoit pas d'admirer les effets prodigieux de la 

 nature." — Peniety, p. 526. 



^ An inhabitant of Mendoza, and hence well capable of judging, assured me 

 that, during the several years he had resided on these islands, he had never felt the 

 slightest shock of an earthquake. 



P 



