THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 181 



it occasionally formed an agreeable addition to our rather 

 monotonous diet. Heavy rain set in before long, and con- 

 tinued throughout the day. I obtained specimens both of 

 Cyttaria Darivinii and G. Hookeri on the boughs of a beech- 

 tree under which I took shelter. The I7th was dull and 

 cloudy in the morning, but the weather gradually improved 

 as the day wore on. Early in the afternoon, one of a lot of 

 pigeons which we had brought from the Falkland Islands for 

 the governor of the settlement, lighted on the lower part of the 

 rigging of the mainmast, and soon after a handsome hawk 

 arrived in pursuit of it, perching on one of the boats slung at 

 the davits in the coolest manner. On the cap of a revolver 

 being snapped at it, however, it flew off, and left its intended 

 prey in safety. This pigeon and another accompanied the 

 ship during most of the remainder of the season, becoming 

 very tame, and being a source of considerable interest to the 

 ship's company. On the 18th I remained on board, occupied 

 in the preservation of specimens ; but on the afternoon of 

 the following day I landed, and had a long walk along the 

 beach to the south. It was a very still, gray, hazy day, with 

 occasional drizzling rain, and the landscape presented a 

 singularly lifeless aspect. I saw only one bird that was new 

 to me — a kind of night-heron (Nycticorax obscurus), with 

 dusky grayish-brown plumage, which I afterwards observed 

 at the Falkland Islands, and in many localities in the 

 western part of the Strait and Western Channels, as well as at 

 Chiloe. It is of a bold disposition, allowing one to approach 

 within a short distance of it, and then making off with a 

 heavy flapping flight, uttering at the same time a very 

 harsh croak. The skin is exceedingly thin, and rather loosely 

 feathered. 



On the 20th we left Sandy Point in the forenoon, and 



