Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/22

16 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 occasional 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

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 entrance of the straits, covered the territory adjacent to seven different anchorages in the straits proper and six among the channels of western 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 observation 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 several acres in extent. The nests, about six inches high by eighteen in