THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 87 



bears the name of "anicla/' and is, I believe, widely distri- 

 buted over the American continent. It is a bold little bird, 

 as the following incident, which occurred the same day, will 

 show. While walking in an open space near the entrance of 

 the woods, I suddenly heard a rustle of wings, and, on 

 turning round to ascertain the cause, an individual of this 

 species flew right at me, coming within a foot of my head. 

 It then perched on the dead branch of a tree, about a couple 

 of yards off, and scolded at me. As I was without firearms 

 wherewith to secure the prize, I threw some pieces of 

 stick at it, when it made a second swoop at me, again 

 alighting on a neighbouring tree and scolding fiercely. This 

 manoeuvre was repeated several times until I was fairly clear 

 of the wood. 



The 25th, Christmas Day, was celebrated by a large party 

 of the officers (for the most part armed with guns) landing in 

 the morning and spending the day on shore ; the greater num- 

 ber of us wending our way along the shore, and the open flat 

 country, dotted with shrubs of barberry and Chilahothrium., 

 which stretches for some miles to the north-east of the settle- 

 ment, between the woods and the shore, and which afterwards 

 received the appellation of the " Bandurria plains," in con- 

 sequence of being much frequented by the bird of that 

 name. On the beach I found many dead specimens of two 

 bivalve molluscs, the Chione exalhida and Darina Solenoides, 

 as well as fragments of the shells of the Fusus Geversianus 

 and Voluta Magellanica ; and on the plains I obtained several 

 species of plants which I had not previously seen. Among 

 those which specially attracted my attention, I may mention 

 a small papilionaceous yellow-flowered plant, presenting a 

 considerable resemblance to our own Lotus corniculatus, so 

 commonly met with on sandy downs — (the Adesmia lotoides, 



