Page:The birds of Tierra del Fuego - Richard Crawshay.djvu/39

Rh the form of guano, and of the excrements of various birds, who deposit their eggs, rear their young, and find a habitation amongst the groves of Tussock. Its general locality is on the edges of those peat-bogs which approach the shore, where it contributes considerably to the formation of peat. Though not universal along the coast of these islands, the quantity is still prodigious, for it is always a gregarious Grass, extending in patches sometimes for nearly a mile, but seldom seen except within the influence of the sea air. This predilection for the ocean does not arise from an incapacity to grow and thrive except close to the salt water, but because other plants, not suited to the sea-shore, already cover the ground in more inland localities, and prevail over it; I have seen the Tussock on inaccessible cliffs in the interior, having been brought there by the birds and afterwards manured by them; and when cultivated, it thrives both in the Falklands and in England, far from the sea."

The average height of the Tussock Grass is estimated by Dr. Cunningham, of the "Nassau" Survey, as between ten and twelve feet, and the mass of roots belonging to each from a foot to a foot and a half in height by two to three feet in diameter.

Live stock are particularly partial to this Grass. The "sweet nutty-flavoured roots" are food even for man.

Of the Fungi, the most conspicuous are the Common Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) and the Giant Puff ball (Lycoperdon giganteum).

The forest is composed of two species of Beech, and Winter's Bark (Drimys winteri); with undergrowth of Holly-leafed Barberry (Berheris ilicifolia). Black Currant, and, on the outskirts, large and luxuriant clumps of Fuchsia (Fuchsia magellanica) almost overhanging the sea.

Fagus antarctica and F. betuloides are the two Beeches, the former deciduous, the latter evergreen. It is curious to observe how these two trees occur in their several belts, or grow together in similar conditions, with no apparent reason governing such distribution.