54 Wonders of the Bird World 



of their wariness and the thick coat of feathers, which is 

 impenetrable by anything smaller than swan-shot. The 

 flavour of their flesh is so strong and fishy, that at first we 

 killed them solely for specimens. Five or six months, 

 however, on salt provisions taught many to think such food 

 palatable, and the seamen never lost an opportunity of 

 eating them. I have preferred these Ducks to salt beef, as 

 a preventive against scurvy, rather than from liking their 

 taste.' King also distinguished two species of Steamer- 

 Duck, whereof one (the ybitrs brachyplera of Latham, 

 Micropteriis brachyptcrus of Ouoy and Gaimard), was 

 entirely incapable of flight ; and the other, which he denom- 

 inated by the specific name of Anas paiachoniats, was stated 

 to be smaller in size than the ^{. bracliypterus, possessed 

 of volant powers, and differing also in other points relating 

 to the plumage. Mr. Darwin, who describes the bird as he 

 saw it at the Falklands, mentions but one species, the 

 original A. brachyptera, which he states to be incapable 

 of flight. 



" I will now pass on to offer a few remarks on the bird, 

 as derived from numerous observations which I had oppor- 

 tunities of making with regard to it at the I<"alkland Islands, 

 in the Strait of Magellan, and on the west coast of Pata- 

 gonia. At the outset I may state that, though undoubtedly 

 some Steamer-Ducks fly, and others appear to be either 

 wholly incapable of flight, or do not make use of their 

 faculties in this respect, it is, nevertheless, my belief there 

 is only one species of the genus Microptcnis, and that the 

 variations in size, capability of flight, and colouring of 

 plumage, arc chiefly dependent on the age of the birds. 

 Secondly, it is my opinion that it is the young birds that 

 can fly, and that the power of flight or the disposition 

 to fly diminishes with age. I have arrived at this 

 conclusion after the examination of a number of speci- 

 mens of volant and non-volant birds, having ascer- 



