204 SOME I5IRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



have to suit themselves to their surroundini^s, nesting 

 in the crevices, of vvliicli tlicre are many, between the 

 rocks. It was curious to see parties of them hurry- 

 ing into the sea as we approached them ; they did not 

 seem to mind rolHno- about, and if thev were too far 

 from the water to reach it in what they considered to 

 be a dignified manner, they would tumble down and 

 roll over and over until they reached their favourite 

 element. It is said that Penguins breed all the year 

 round on the islands off the coast of South Africa, and 

 that the breeding places are never entirely untenanted 

 by these birds. There were very few of them breeding 

 on St. Croix at the time we were there, and I should 

 not have obtained the photograph of the Penguin on 

 its nest, had it not been that the bird drew my attention 

 to itself by giving me a smart peck on the ankle as I 

 was walking down the rocks to look at some nests, 

 which, I was told, belonged to a species of Crane. 

 I therefore stopped, and returned good for evil by 

 taking the Penguin's photograph. It assumed the 

 most ridiculous positions while I was doing this, lying 

 on its stomach and screwing its head round, first to 

 one side and then to the other, never keeping still for 

 a moment. I can only describe its movements as 

 "languishing"; nor was this the only bird that lan- 

 guished, for some that were evidently moulting, and 

 had retired to crevices underneath the large rocks, did 

 the same thing. I have no doubt that the nest here 

 reproduced, which was made of sticks, was in reality 

 an old nest of a Dicyker, and that the Penguin had 

 adapted it to its own use. 



We had not been favoured with a good light for 



