272 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



mounds, slightly excavated on the upper surface, and ranged in 

 almost mathematical series, exactly a foot of space intervening 

 between each nest. They were formed of dried grass and 

 other herbage baked into a solid mass with earth and guano ; 

 and the generality contained from one to three greenish- 

 white eggs about the size of that of a domestic fowl, and with 

 a rough chalky surface. A spirited and accurate sketch of the 

 scene was executed by one of the officers who was an eye- 

 witness of it, and appeared subsequently in the Illustrated 

 London News. 



On the steep cliffs of the island a considerable number of 

 birds of the same species had constructed nests of sea- 

 weed, but there were no eggs in any of these, and possibly 

 their owners may have been mateless individuals. Among 

 the other birds observed on the island were three specimens 

 of the sheathbill, none of which were unfortunately obtained, 

 as well as many upland geese and skua and other species 

 of gulls ; and we found several nests alike of gulls and geese. 

 The plants comprised about half-a-dozen grasses, a yellow 

 Viola, Cerastium arvense, a Geranium and Erodium, Homoian- 

 thus echimdatus, Plantago maritima, and CMorcea Magellanica. 



In the course of a few hours we returned to the ship, 

 immediately after which we left the island, and passing the 

 remainder of the day in taking soundings, anchored late in 

 the evening in Gregory Bay. We were all greatly interested 

 by our morning's experience, and it was not a little curious 

 to find subsequently how closely our observations coincided 

 with those of Sir Eichard Hawkins, in the same locality, nearly 

 three hundred years before. His account of the denizens 

 of Sta. Magdalena is so quaint that I make no apology for 

 presenting it to those of my readers who may happen to be 

 unacquainted with it. He states that 



