6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 

U. S. S. ALBATROSS IN Borsa Bay. Straits of Magellan. 
a century later, and had read the quaint descriptions of the region by 
Magellan, Drake, Cook and the hardy sea explorers who followed them. 
Out in the straits whales, porpoises and seals made their presence 
known at times, but sea birds were more constant objects of interest. 
The nesting places of cormorants were marked hy masses of black- 
backed, white-breasted birds, acres in extent. From low island levels 
Cassin terns rose in clouds of protesting thousands when our boats 
grounded. 
“ Steamer ” ducks? kept well ahead of the active oarsmen, their 
flightless wings aiding their webbed feet in a manner suggestive of 
paddle wheels used as auxiliaries to screw propellers, trailing a foamy 
wake a hundred yards behind. ‘The species belongs exclusively to 
southern South America and is altogether the most notable bird of the 
straits region. It is said to weigh over fifteen pounds. While it can 
not, or at least does not, fly, and is seldom inclined to dive, the rapidity 
of its progress over the surface long ago attracted the attention of 
explorers and navigators. Most observers are of the opinion that the 
wings move alternately when in motion. An occasional penguin—that 
flightless, burly diver, peculiar to Antarctic seas—only showed himself 
above water in porpoise-like leaps and was seldom easy to get. 
The diving petrel,* also Antarctic in range, was by special request 
a mark for all guns, but no specimens were taken. As a quick diver it 
* Tachyeres cinereus. 
8 Pelecanoides urinatriz. 
