PENGUINS AND THEIR BURROWS 73 



As soon as we had superintended the landing 

 of the baggage, of which our cameras formed an 

 important part, we set off for the lighthouse, 

 which is on the windward side of the island, under 

 the guidance of one of the assistant light-keepers. 



A narrow path leading from the landing-place 

 to the lighthouse is the only track in which one 

 may walk when the birds are nesting. 



On each side of the track were numbers of 

 penguins, both adult and young birds, while in 

 many cases we saw old birds digging out their 

 burrows, at the end of which their two eggs are 

 laid. They appear to use their feet only for 

 digging. Lying flat on their breasts they throw 

 the sand out behind them with their strong 

 webbed feet, and all over the island as far as the 

 eye could reach showers of sand were shooting 

 up into the air. 



Our guide informed us that we were too early 

 for the height of the nesting season, only a few 

 penguins being at this time on the island. He 

 added that the number of breeding penguins on 

 this small island, little more than a mile square, 

 was estimated at nine millions, a truly astonishing 

 number ; but as the birds on shore at the time 

 of our visit were described as " very few ' I can 

 well believe that the total estimate is not ex- 

 aggerated. 



By the time we reached the lighthouse it was 

 nearly dark, and the light was already shining 



