LEAVES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 337 



its head as high as a man's waist, hatches its eggs in a very pecu- 

 liar manner. These are not brooded after the manner of most 

 birds' eggs. The female lays two eggs. The first she hands over 

 to the male bird ; the second she keeps. The egg is held on the 

 upper surface of the large flat feet, and is pushed up under the 

 waistcoat of thick feathers. It is there held close to the body, 

 whose warmth gradually vitalises the young bird. So tenacious 

 are the parent birds of this grip, that if you knock one of them 

 over it will fall over on its back with its foot stuck stiffly out, still 

 clutching the egg to its body. 



Maintenance of Life in very Low and very High 



Latitudes. 



With regard to the curious puzzle as to how highly organised 

 creatures can flourish in very high or very low latitudes, Mr. 

 Tregear says that between New Zealand and the Antarctic Circle 

 are numbers of islands, many of which are barren and others 

 covered with scrub, where tens of thousands of penguins and other 

 sea-birds make their nurseries. When, during the summer, the 

 eggs have been hatched and the young reared, the younger gene- 

 ration is left, and the adults set out for the lands round the South 

 Pole. They leave in autumn thin and attenuated ; they go for the 

 winter to the clime of eternal snow and ice ; and they return six 

 months afterwards as fat as butter to their old haunts. Their 

 squadrons, swimming in long columns, cover the sea for miles. 

 When one part of the bird-army strikes its regular nesting-place, it 

 appears as if word were passed round. The proper inhabitants of 

 the spot collect and take possession, pushing the youngsters of 

 last year out to sea. The others wheel their lines to left and 

 right round the obstacle, and push on northward to their usual 

 summer homes. It seems that beyond the great belt of ice-cliffs, 

 which bar the way to the South Pole, there must be pleasant fiords 

 and bays where the penguins fish and fatten. I neglected to take 

 notes — except in my memory — of the extraordinary manner in 

 which Nature provides " cold storage " for bird-life in Siberia. I 

 believe I can correctly give the main facts. There are at least six 

 species of birds visiting England in the winter whose nesting- 

 place is unknown. A gentleman, deeply interested in the subject. 



