Abstract
WEST POINT ISLAND lies off the north-west corner of west Falkland and only about a quarter of a mile off-shore. It has been occupied as a small sheep farm for many years, and like everyone else in the Falklands the people of the Island burn peat. The peatbog, that is the place whence the peat is brought, is situated near the upper end of a valley, roughly one and a half miles long and half a mile wide, which runs up from sea-level at the north to the top of a steep cliff at the south end. The area covered by the peat bog lies at an altitude of approximately 600 ft. It has been worked over by the removal of successive layers of one yard in thickness; in some places three such layers have been extracted, and beneath the lowest, that is, at a depth of nine feet from the original surface, a bone deposit was discovered some fifteen or twenty years ago.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
HATTERSLEY-SMITH, G., HAMILTON, J. A Recent Deposit of Bird Bones in the Falkland Islands. Nature 166, 198 (1950). https://doi.org/10.1038/166198b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/166198b0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.