Micropterus brachypterus, _Eyton_, Monog. Anat. p. 144. Anas brachytera, _Lath._, Ind. Orn. ii. 834. These great logger-headed ducks, which sometimes weigh as much as twenty-two pounds, were called by the old navigators, from their extraordinary manner of paddling and splashing over the water, race-horses, but now much more properly 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 house duck escapes, when pursued by a dog; but I am nearly sure that the steamer moves its wings alternately, instead of, as in other birds, both together. These clumsy birds make such a noise and splashing, that the effect is most curious. The steamer is able to dive but a very short distance. It feeds entirely on shellfish from the floating kelp and tidal rocks; hence the beak and head are surprisingly heavy and strong, for the purpose of breaking them. So strong is the head, that I have sometimes scarcely been able to fracture it with my geological hammer; and all our sportsmen soon discovered how tenacious these birds were of life. When pluming themselves in the evening in a flock they make an odd mixture of sounds, somewhat like bull-frogs within the tropics. 1. PODICEPS KALIPAREUS. _Quoy & Gaim._ My specimens were obtained from Bahia Blanca (September), Northern Patagonia, and the Falkland Islands. In the former place it lived in small flocks in the salt-water channels, extending between the great marshes at the head of the harbour. At the Falkland Islands I saw (March) very few individuals; and these only in one small fresh water lake. Tarsi of the same colour as the plumage of the back; iris of a beautiful tint, between “scarlet and carmine red;” pupil black. Mr. Gould remarks that, “This beautiful species of _Podiceps_ is equal in size, and has many of the characters of the _P. auritus_, but is at once distinguished from that species by the silvery colouring of the plumes that adorn the sides of the head; which in _P. auritus_ are deep chestnut.” 2. PODICEPS ROLLANDII. _Quoy et Gaim._ Podiceps Rolland, _Quoy et Gaim_. Voy. de l’Uranie, pl. 36. p. 133. I obtained specimens from the Falkland Islands (March), where it was common at the head of the tortuous bays which intersect those islands; from a fresh water lake near the Strait of Magellan (February); and from the eastern coast of Chiloe. The male and female have the same plumage. Iris of a fine red colour. Mr. Gould adds that, “this species appears to be as nearly related to the _Podiceps cornutus_, as the preceding species is to _P. auritus_, but is readily distinguishable from it, by the white spot in the centre of the tuft of feathers that spring from the sides of the face.” 3. PODICEPS CHILENSIS. _Garnot._