Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/465

Rh antarcticus, were breeding there; and doubtless, also, that anomaly amongst birds, the Chionis, the eggs of which form such a desideratum in ornithology; and I regret much not having had an opportunity of landing in search of them. To the S.W. of this strait, we discovered more land, commencing with a low black ledge, singularly marked by waved lines, running south, resembling streams of lava, and the only portion of the land without a vestige of snow. From this, bold and rugged cliffs arose, covered with snow, their steep, black escarpments only appearing through it, the shores being girt by an icy barrier. The extremity of the land seen terminated in a bluff, black-looking headland, bearing W. by S. I obtained a mass of hornstone, imbedded in a layer of blue mud, from a piece of ice, alongside which we watered the ship. As I had no opportunity of landing for specimens, I was in the habit of examining the stomachs of most of the birds which I shot and preserved for the Government Collection; and found the penguins my best geological collectors, for their crops were frequently filled with pebbles; more especially the large species, Aptenodytes antarctica. In one of these individuals I found upwards of a pound of small fragments of rocks; comprising, basalt, greenstone, porphyry, granite, vesicular lava, quartz, scoriæ, and pumice; but none of them ever brought me a vestige of aqueous rocks,—all were volcanic,—and such the appearance of the Antarctic lands, even at a distance, would proclaim them to be. We saw three species of