103 CALL AT BERKELEY SOUND. 



in pistol shot of a public road ; at first I thoug-ht 

 they were domesticated^ and refrained from firing. 

 The loggerhead is a large and heavy bird fijr a 

 duck ; one which I shot weighed eighteen pounds, 

 and it has been recorded as sometimes weighing as 

 much as twenty-nine pounds. From the dispropor- 

 tionate smallness of its wings it is incapable of 

 flight, but employs these members as paddles in hur- 

 rying along the surface of the water when alarmed, 

 using its feet at the same time with much splashing 

 and apparent awkwardness, leaving a broad wake 

 behind it on the water — hence the not inappropriate 

 name of steamer which is sometimes apphed to it. 

 Not being fit to eat, and moreover from its strength 

 and the closeness of its plumage difficult to Mil, it 

 is not much molested by sportsmen. Another bird 

 very likely to attract attention is the kelp goose 

 [Bernicla antarctica), generally seen in pairs along' 

 the rocky coasts : the plumage of the male is of a 

 beautiful white, that of the female is dark and 

 glossy, variously speckled and barred. 



July 24:th. — "We sailed from Port Stanley yester- 

 day at daylight, and after entering Berkeley Sound 

 beat up as far as Hog Island, off which we 

 anchored at sunset, at a distance from the old 

 settlement of Port Louis of about two miles and a 

 half. As the sole object in coming here was to 

 obtain magnietic observations at the spot used for 

 that pm-pose in 1842 by the Antarctic Expedition 

 under Sir James Ross, for which one day would 



