104 MR JOHN HEWITT 



Concerning the nurture of their young, I was unable 

 to make observations. However, from observations made 

 in the gardens at Paris, it is now known that the Cape 

 Penguin feeds its voung much in the same way as 

 Cormorants — by degorgement of half -digested food from 

 the digestive tract of the parents. 



Amongst young birds there is considerable mortality, 

 judging from the dried up carcases found here and there. 

 Our suspicions fell on the older birds, for despite the 

 ' unco guid ' appearance of typical penguins, the rival 

 occupants of a breeding camp are quarrelsome and cruel. 

 However, 1 have since learnt from Canon E. Ford that 

 the sly Sea-gull is responsible for the wholesale slaughter 

 of young penguins; when he visited the island on July 

 25th of this year, the dead bodies of eviscerated penguin 

 chicks were found in hundreds. Hampered b}' such a 

 drain on their machinery of reproductitm, it is fortu- 

 nate that Nature has endowed these birds with the 

 capacity to lay eggs more or less continuously. The 

 same prodigality is manifested amongst the penguins 

 of the Antarctic region, for travellers tell us that the 

 chicks of Emperor Penguins perish in large numbers 

 before shedding their downy plumage, being actually 

 nursed to death by parents and rival foster parents, 

 whilst the Adelie Penguins fall victims to the marauding 

 Skua gulls. 



In our tramps on the hillside, we noticed considerable 

 numbers of pebbles, mostly small, but some of moderate 

 size. These clearly had not been formed in situ, being 

 no doubt of marine origin. It occurred to Mr. Walker 

 that pebbles may i)ossibly be esteemed by penguins as 

 grit, and are thus conveyed to their present positions 

 in avian stomachs. Although such pebbles were not seen 

 to any great extent near the nesting birds, nevertheless 

 1 also think they must have been carried in some way 

 by penguins. In a note by the late Sir John Murray on 



