A MOST WONDERFUL SIGHT 75 



disturbed crouches down and rolls her head from 

 side to side, occasionally making a short rush at 

 the intruder, and all the while she utters a 

 grunting noise. As a rule the male stands close 

 to the nest ; occasionally, however, he leaves his 

 mate and walks down to the sea in search of food 

 for her and himself. 



Dassen Island must offer a most wonderful sight 

 when all the birds are ashore, as even at the time 

 of our visit there were at least one pair of birds 

 to every square yard. 



Mr. Almada, the " watcher," informed us that 

 most of the birds on shore at this time were 

 moulting. They come up from the sea coated with 

 fat and remain on shore for the period of the moult, 

 which takes about a month, and during this time 

 they never enter the sea for food, but appear to 

 live on their accumulated fat. When the moult is 

 complete, the penguins go to sea again for another 

 month and again become enormously fat. They 

 then land again and commence to breed, and as 

 soon as the young are completely feathered, 

 all of them leave the island and spend some time 

 at sea before the next breeding season commences. 

 All the year round there are a few pairs nesting 

 on the island. These may possibly be early bred 

 young of the previous year, or old birds which 

 for some reason have had their moult retarded. 



The eggs are collected and sent to Cape Town 

 for sale, where they fetch about ten shillings per 



