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fragments have been levelled into one continuous sheet. If
during the earthquake* which in 1835 overthrew Concepcion,
in Chile, it was thought wonderful that small bodies
should have been pitched a few inches from the ground,
what must we say to a movement which has caused fragments,
many tons in weight (like so much sand on a
vibrating board), to move onwards and find their level?
I have seen, in the Cordillera of the Andes, the evident marks
where stupendous mountains have been broken into pieces
like so much thin crust, and the strata thrown on their
vertical edges ; but never did any scene, like the “ streams
of stones,” so forcibly convey to my mind the idea of a
convulsion of which in historical records we might m vain
seek for any counterpart.
I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands.
I have before described the Polyborus or Caracara. There
are some other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds.
The waterfowl! are particularly numerous, and they must
formerly, from the accounts of old navigators, have been
much more so. One day, having placed myself between a
penguin {Aptenodytes demersd) and the water, I was much
amused by watching its habits. It was a brave bird; and
tiU reaching the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards.
Nothing less than heavy blows would have stopped
h im ; every inch gained he firmly kept, standing close before
me, erect and determined. When thus opposed he continually
rolled his head from side to side, in a very odd manner, as
if the power of distmct vision only lay in the anterior and
• A n in h a b i t a n t o f M e n d o z a , a n d h e n c e w e ll c a p ab le o f ju d g in g ,
a s su re d me th a t , d u r in g th e s e v e ra l y e a rs h e lia d r e s id e d o n th e s e islan d s,
h e h a d n e v e r f e lt th e s lig h te s t sh o c k o f a n e a rth q u a k e .
! 1 m ay m e n tio n , t h a t 1 o n e d ay o b s e rv e d a c o rm o r a n t p la y in g w ith
a fish w h ic h i t h a d c a u g h t. E ig h t tim e s su c ce ssiv e ly th e b ird l e t its p re y
go, th e n d iv ed a fte r it, a n d a lth o u g h in d e e p w a te r, b ro u g h t i t e a ch tim e
to tlie su rfa c e . I n th e Z o o lo g ic a l G a rd e n s I h a v e se en th e o t te r t r e a t
a fish in th e s am e m a n n e r , m u c h as a c a t d o e s a mo u se. I d o n o t
k n ow o f a n y o th e r in s ta n c e w h e re d am e N a tu r e a p p e a r s so w ilfu lly c ru e l.
basal part of each eye. This bird is commonly called the
jackass penguin, from its habit, while on shore, of tlirowing
its head backwards, and making a loud strange noise, very
like the braying of that animal; but while at sea, and undisturbed,
its note is very deep and solemn, and is often heard
in the night-time. In diving, its little plumeless wings are
used as fins; but on the land, as front legs. When crawling
(it may be said on four legs) through the tussocks, or on the
side of a grassy cliff, it moved so very quickly that it might
readily have been mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea
and fishing, it comes to the surface, for the purpose of
breathing, with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously,
that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it
is not a fish leaping for sport.
Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The upland
species {Anas hucoptera) is common in pairs, and in small
flocks, throughout the island. They do not migrate, but
build on the small outlying islets. This is supposed to iie
from fear of the foxes: and it is perhaps from the same
cause that these birds, though very tame by day, are siiy
and wild in the dusk of the evening. They live entirely on
vegetable matter. The rock-goose, so called from living exclusively
on the sea-beach {Anas antárctico), is common both
here and on the west coast of America, as far north as Chile.
In the deep and retired channels of Tierra del Fuego, the
snow-white gander, invariably accompanied by his darker
consort, and standing close by each other on some distant
rocky point, is a common feature in the landscape.
In these islands a great loggerheaded duck or goose {Anas
brachyptera), which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds, is
very abundant. These birds were in former days called, from
their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing upon the
water,race-horses; but now they are named, much more appropriately,
steamers. Their wings are too small and weak to allow
of flight, but by their aid, partly swimming and partly flapping
the surface of the water, they move very quickly. The
manner is something like that by which the common housc-
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