Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/13

Rh is a little brother to the northern auklet, which it resembles in appearance and to some extent in habits. When at large there is nothing in its actions to suggest the petrel. It strikes down into the water from full flight, emerging farther on, fairly bursting forth into the air with wings in rapid motion.

There were also gulls, jægers and grebes along the great waterway. Albatrosses and Cape Horn pigeons did not follow us into the straits, but we found them awaiting the ship when we emerged into the Pacific a month later.

About the marshy places, ducks, geese, plovers and snipes of unfamiliar kinds afforded sport as well as ornithological specimens on our trips ashore. The Paraguay snipe proved a good substitute for the Wilson snipe of North America. Most striking in appearance were the large kelp geese, the males of which are snowy white and the females dark.

The barred Magellan geese, however, are more important on account of their abundance. This bird is a resident of the region throughout the year. It is an inhabitant of the open plains and mountain slopes and is a land rather than a water species. It occupies the open country of Tierra del Fuego in enormous numbers and has contributed more to the food of the white settlers now establishing sheep ranches in that country and in Patagonia than any other wild creature.

With few exceptions both land and water 'birds were species of the southern hemisphere and of Antarctic distribution.

The Magellan robin would have passed for the North American bird but for its gray tones and its disinclination to sing. There were