THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 95 



a careful inspection of the condition of the skeleton, and other 

 points in the structure of the volant specimens (the plumage 

 of which entirely corresponded with King's short description 

 of Micropterus Patachonicus), that they were all immature 

 individuals (probably the young of the year), and having as 

 invariably found that the non-volant specimens were full- 

 grown birds. 



The colouring of the plumage of the adult bird may be 

 shortly described as follows : — The bill is orange-yellow, with 

 the unguis black. The head is cinereous, becoming gradually 

 paler as the individual increases in age, with a small patch 

 beneath the eye, and a streak above it, nearly white. The 

 whole of the upper surface, the throat, the superior part of 

 the breast, and the wings, with the exception of a white specu- 

 lum, are lead-gray. The lower part of the breast and abdomen 

 vary from a tint verging on primrose-yellow to pale yellowish- 

 white ; and the legs and feet are dark yellow. 



Younger individuals (M. Patachonicus) are chiefly distin- 

 guished by their smaller size, their greenish-black bills, and 

 prevalence of a reddish-brown hue on the throat and scapu- 

 lars. 



The average length of the adult birds may be stated as 

 about thirty inches, and I do not think that I ever met with 

 specimens measuring more than three feet from the unguis 

 to the tip of the tail ; so that I am inclined to believe 

 that the specimen mentioned by King as forty inches in 

 length was of exceptional size, and I feel no doubt that 

 there must have been some mistake as regards the birds 

 stated by Cook as weighing twenty-nine pounds. 



The steamer-duck is very plentiful on the shores of the 

 Falkland Islands, in the Strait of Magellan, and in the 

 channels of Western Patagonia, as well as at Chiloe, which is 



