NOTE ON DARWIN 
^3 
Kelp, Macrocystispyrifera : see Journal, Voyage of the' 1 Beagle', 
ed. xii, p. 236 [cap. xi]. 
(From A ). White frosty morning and fine bright day. 
‘Evening’ star extraordinarily bright every morning. Dead 
calm night. Slight north wind later. 
Three woodpeckers: black, bodies, tail, and wings, when 
at rest, with white line down back. Female, black crest, and 
all over. Two males had brilliant scarlet head and crest 
which is erected when pecking viciously at dead trees. Can 
be heard some distance away. They cling upright to trunk 
when pecking, and have very long tongue with sharp point. 
Reading Beagle . Darwin, ed. xii [footnote on p. 232, cap. 
xi], says on authority of Fitz Roy that trees that grow near 
the base of the mountains change their colour, but not those 
on the higher parts. So far as we can see here and elsewhere, 
this is a mistake. The evergreen beeches cover the lower 
parts of the hills, as also other evergreen trees, like the 
Seventh or Canelo. The smaller deciduous beeches cover 
the higher parts of the mountains, and at the present time 
(June 1929) are all bare of leaves and of a lovely purplish 
colour, like the delicate bloom on purple plums. Leaves 
change in early April to yellow, then red, then brown, and 
fall off, when the woods assume their winter colour. Beech 
trees on the lower slopes remain (June 1929) deep rich green 
in colour, as also the Severillo and Canelo and ‘Lena dura’. 
Afternoon walk across old bridge. Panoramic photos. 
(Plates VI, VIII.) 
Claude came in with supply of special large edible mussel 
that only grows in certain parts. One bed near the southern 
entrance to the Murray Channel. Also large volute and 
Echinus much like Strongylocentrotus of Victoria. All of these 
are caught with a four-pronged spear, the prongs being kept 
apart by two pieces of wood at right angles to one another. 
Domingo has one. The whole is only 2 ft. 6 in. long, but 
