BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 211 



after night, rough or smooth, the various batches arrived punc- 

 tually to the minute. On a calm evening the birds could be seen 

 moving through the water some five or six hundred 3'ards from the 

 shore, where they would show as a ripple on the surface. As the 

 birds came closer their heads could be distinguished just above 

 the surface. It was usual for them to wait until a roller washed 

 them on to the low rocks at their landing-places; then, before the 

 backwash had time to carry them away, they would rapidly 

 scramble to safety, using feet, flippers, and bills. One evening a 

 party of birds were slightly late, and they seemed to know it, for 

 the speed w'ith which they came through the water was truly 

 astonishing — they gave one the impression of miniature torpedoes. 

 80 well did they make up for lost time that they were but a few 

 seconds behind schedule time. 



On some evenings no sound was uttered by the birds either 

 when ixioving through the water or after landing and on their 

 way towards the rookeries. On other occasions a short, sharp 

 barking note was uttered. To see what would happen, a batch 

 was driven back into the water one evening. They tumbled in like 

 so many Ducks, and uttered a note closely resembling the quacking 

 of those birds. They were soon ashore again, however. 



Penguins when fii'st issuing from the water have the appear- 

 ance of the proverbial drowned rats, but they dry rapidly. 

 Almost invariably progress was made to the rookeries in silence. 

 I noted that by 6.50 p.m. a few birds had commenced calling. A 

 variety of notes is uttered by both sexes, varying from mewing 

 to bleating and squeaking. The male bird utters a deeper note 

 than the female. When the former is courting, and nttering deep 

 notes, the female is giving vent to hoarse purring sounds. These 

 sounds are varied by different birds. By 7 p.m. a rookery would 

 be in full swing, some birds courting, some scratching out their 

 burrows, others quarrelling, and others agam merely making a 

 hideous noise. I observed that during the early part of any night 

 but a small proportion of the birds in any one rookery would be 

 giving tongue. Occasionally a female would resent the attention 

 of a male; then a battle royal would result, with much noise and 

 little damage. In several instances a bird was observed to enter 

 a burrow already occupied by a pair; result — well, the intruder 

 would come out of that burrow in record time and scuttle away 

 as fast as its short legs would carry it. 



Between midnight and 4 a.m. every Penguin on the island 

 seemed to be in active vocal competition with its neighbour, but 

 by 5 a.m. silence reigned supreme, the majority of the birds having 

 quietly waddled down the rocks the same way as they had arrived 

 the previous evening, and swum out to sea, disappearing from 

 view in a few minutes, while the few that remained slept. Very 

 rarely was it that a sound broke the silence on a rookery between 

 the hours of 5 a.m. and 6 p.m., even though a couple of hundred 



