to call it _quebranta huesos_
(breakbones), the _Puffinus cinereus_, which inhabits the inland
channels in large flocks, and an allied species (_Puffinuria
Berardii_) which inhabits the inland sounds and resembles the auk in
some particulars of habit and appearance. There are numerous species
in these sheltered channels, inlets and sounds of geese, ducks, swans,
cormorants, ibises, bitterns, red-beaks, curlew, snipe, plover and
moorhens. Conspicuous among these are the great white swan (_Cygnus
anatoides_), the black-necked swan (_Anser nigricollis_), the
antarctic goose (_Anas antarctica_) and the "race-horse" or "steamer
duck" (_Micropterus brachypterus_).

The marine fauna is less known than the others, but it is rich in
species and highly interesting in its varied forms and
characteristics. The northern coast has no sheltered waters of any
considerable extent, and the shore slopes abruptly to a great depth,
which gives it a marine life of no special importance. In the shoal
waters about Juan Fernandez are found a species of codfish (possibly
_Gadus macrocephalus_), differing in some particulars from the
Newfoundland cod, and a large crayfish, both of which are caught for
the Valparaiso market. The sheltered waters of the broken southern
coast, however, are rich in fish and molluscs, especially in mussels,
limpets and barnacles, which are the principal food resource of the
nomadic Indian tribes of those regions. A large species of barnacle,
_Balanus psittacus_, is found in great abundance from Concepcion to
Puerto Montt, and is not only eaten by the natives, by whom it is
called _pico_, but is also esteemed a great delicacy in the markets of
Valparaiso and Santiago. Oysters of excellent flavour are found in
the sheltered waters of Chiloe. The Cetacea, which frequent these
southern waters, are represented by four species--two dolphins and the
sperm and right whale--and the _Phocidae_ by six species, one of which
(_Phoca lupina_) differs but little from the common seal. Another
species (_Macrorhinus leoninus_), popularly known as the sea-elephant,
is provided with short tusks and a short trunk and sometimes grows to
a length of 20 ft. Still another species, the sea-lion (_Otaria
jubata_), furnishes the natives of Tierra del Fuego with an acceptable
article of food, but like the _Phoca lupina_ it is becoming scarce.

Of Reptilia Chile is singularl