THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 277 



their holes to see what was the matter, quickly withdrawing 

 them on my nearer approach. In the neighbourhood of these 

 warrens I noticed a good many specimens of the great owl 

 {Buho Magellanicus). These were in general perched on the 

 barberry bushes, and were very bold, barking at me in their 

 peculiar fashion, and allowing me to come within three or 

 four yards of them before taking flight. I saw several fine 

 specimens of the military starling, and in the vicinity of a 

 marsh some geese with young goslings. The old birds w^ere 

 very assiduous in their care of their young — not flying off as 

 I came near them, but hiding themselves in the long grass, 

 from which I could perceive them anxiously watching my 

 movements. A few specimens of a beautiful duck, the Mareca 

 Chiloensis, which we had not met with during the previous 

 season, were shot by one of the officers. Captain King w^as, 

 I believe, the first to describe it from examples obtained by 

 him in the island of Chiloe, but he does not appear to have 

 met with it so far south as the Strait of Magellan, where it 

 seems to be rather rare. A small lizard of the species earlier 

 mentioned was also captured, and I observed a minute bee 

 busily gathering the pollen from Adesmia pumila, but did 

 not succeed in taking it. 



Among the plants obtained on this occasion were the 

 Calceolaria nana in full flower and very plentiful, the Va- 

 leriana carnosa, Armeria maritima, a pretty Sisyrincliium 

 (S. filifolium), and a yellow-flowered plant apparently belong- 

 ing to the tribe Alstromerim, of the order Amaryllidacecey and 

 which seems to have entirely escaped the notice of those 

 botanists who have previously visited the Strait of Magellan. 

 I afterwards found it both in the neighbourhood of Mount 

 Dinero and at the river Gallegos, and sent several specimens 

 to England, which are now among my collections in the Eoyal 



