296 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



ing Voluta Magellanica, Mytilus Magellanicus, Chione exalhida, 

 etc. etc., were profusely scattered about, but as I found nothing 

 of a novel or interesting description, I soon forsook the shore 

 for the high ground above it. This was the first opportunity 

 that I enjoyed of visiting a tussac grove, and it made a 

 most striking impression on my mind as I wended my way 

 along the narrow winding natural pathways between the 

 separate clumps of grass, the leaves of which waved high over- 

 head in graceful curves. The average height of the plants I 

 should estimate as between ten and twelve feet, while the mass 

 of roots belonging to each varied from a foot to a foot and a 

 half in height by two to three feet in diameter. Among the 

 roots jackass penguins had formed their burrows in numbers, 

 and as we walked through the groves we were accompanied 

 by numerous individuals of a little dusky-brown bird, the 

 Opetiorhynclius antarcticus, which, when we sat down, came 

 quite close to us, being even more familiar than our English 

 robin, a specimen on one occasion lighting on one of the 

 sportsmen who was lying in wait for geese, and hopping about 

 over him in the most unconcerned manner. The military 

 starling was also common, and hardly less tame. After a time 

 I ascended to the summit of the island through a gap in the 

 tussac, meeting with specimens of a very stout tall-growing 

 Carex, and several Compositse, and finding the Falkland Island 

 tea-plant, Myrtiis nummularia, and Bubus geoides, covering the 

 surface of the ground for yards, the beautiful red fruits of the 

 latter half buried in the moss of the soil On a patch of ground 

 which appeared to have been burnt, Senecio vulgaris occurred 

 in great profusion, undoubtedly, I should suppose, introduced, 

 but by what agency it is not easy to form an opinion. 



The tameness of the birds, in general, was most remark- 

 able. The brown skua gulls (Lestris antarcticus), of which 



