April 1828. 



BIRDS FISH NARROWS. 



1S9 



intricate, I deferred trying to enter with the vessel until a more 

 favourable opportunity should offer, and we returned to the 

 place south of Warrington Cove, called Dighton Bay, where 

 we anchored off a sandy beach in twenty fathoms, and secured 

 the vessel by laying the kedge on the shore. This sandy beach 

 was the first we had found in the eastern part of the Strait. 

 The sand is quartzose, of a white colour, and being a novelty, 

 rendered the place interesting. A stream, supplied by the 

 ravines of Mount Maxwell, runs over the beach into the sea, 

 and from it an abundant supply of excellent water may be 

 obtained without difficulty. 



We observed no quadrupeds ; but, of the feathered tribe, 

 we found woodpeckers, kingfishers, and woodcocks, and in 

 the sheltered nooks several humming-birds were darting about 

 the flowery underwood of berberis, fuchsia, and arbutus. In 

 the tide- way, at the narrow passage, the sea teemed with fish ; 

 over which hovered corvorants and other sea-fowl, preying 

 upon the small fry that were trying to elude their voracious 

 enemies, the porpoises and seals, thousands of which were seen 

 sporting about as we proceeded on our way. Whales were also 

 numerous in the vicinity, probably because of an abundance of 

 the small red shrimp, which constitutes their principal food. 



I went again to examine the passage, and the tide being 

 against us, we were obliged to pull close to the western shore 

 to benefit by the partial eddies, otherwise we could not have 

 proceeded until the turn of the tide. 



These narrows, named ' Shag' Narrows, from the quantity 

 of birds there so called by seamen, are not a hundred yards 

 wide. The south end is fronted by an island, from whose 

 summit, about four hundred feet high, I hoped to obtain a 

 good view southward, and after passing the narrows we landed 

 and reached the summit. While looking around at the view, 

 and preparing the theodolite, a woodcock started up from the 

 long grass and walked away so leisurely, that Mr. Tarn nearly 

 succeeded in striking it with a stick. This bird afforded us a 

 name for the station, which we found to be at the northern side 

 of a large basin, ten miles wide, and six long, terminated at 



