16 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
season and in that latitude, and the naturalists did not consider that 
they were making any sacrifices. 
The weather during our “midsummer” month in the straits was 
of all sorts: it was very rainy or misty six days, very windy as many 
more, slightly snowy two days, really bright and pleasant four days. 
The remaining days could not well be classified, presenting all of the 
above-named varieties of weather in such rapid succession that the 
entries in the log book by each watch included them all, with an oc- 
casional fierce squall thrown in to take the kinks out of the cable and 
give the anchor something to do. The vessel sheered alarmingly as 
the squalls changed direction, but fortunately they were of only brief 

EXPLORING AN ANCIENT SHELL Hap. Blizabeth Island, Straits of Magellan. 
duration. With all these wintry contrarities in the season of summer 
blooms, it was seldom squally enough to drive the hardy humming 
birds away from the fuchsias. 
Our shore work, beginning at Dungeness Point at the eastern en- 
trance of the straits, covered the territory adjacent to seven different 
anchorages in the straits proper and six among the channels of west- 
ern Patagonia, terminating finally at Port Otway, where we entered 
the South Pacific Ocean. With the exception of Punta Arenas, these 
points were uninhabited save for the occasional presence of roving 
canoe Indians. 
At Elizabeth Island there were excellent opportunities for the ob- 
servation of water birds. A rookery of Cassin terns occupied several 
acres, the nests being close together, so that care was necessary to 
avoid stepping on them. Eggs and young birds covered the ground 
and countless thousands of old birds swarmed close overhead, actually 
clouding the sky, while the noise of their cries was tremendous in 
volume. The adjacent island of Santa Marta was largely occupied by 
white-breasted cormorants, the area covered by their nests being sev- 
eral acres in extent. The nests, about six inches high by eighteen in 
