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Reviews. \ 2 ^ 



discovered, the injured party will give chase ; then all the kind and sym- 

 pathetic neighbours rush in and rob to their hearts' desire ! 



" Woe to the foolish Penguin that rambles about in a restless fashion among 

 the community ; before making his escape outside the circle he will have 

 left behind a large quantity of his plumage, with which the others will 



feather their nests ; he must either have a home — i.e., a nest or keep 



quiet on the outside of the circle if he wishes to be left alone ; that is a 

 sine qua non among them. The females generally fought whilst sitting in 

 the nest by stretching out their necks and pecking at each other's tongues ; 

 but the males fought in the orthodox and picturesque human fashion, with 

 their arms — that is to say, their flippers — and their teeth — that is to say, their 

 beaks. The pugilists stand erect, and deal each other resounding blows 

 with their flippers, first one and then the other, with astonishing rapidity. 

 When one is knocked down the beak of his opponent is brought into play, 

 with no slight effect. The females rise from their nests and try to intervene 

 and separate them, repeatedly getting between the combatants, and moving 

 their heads rapidly from side to side in protestation. I have seen the females 

 drive the least attractive fighter right out of the circle, but, quite unabashed, 

 he would at once rush back to his antagonist, and the fray would commence 

 again. These fights lasted as long as a quarter of an hour ; in fact, they 

 were not terminated until one was completely conquered. The vanquished 

 bird generally presented a pitiful appearance, being covered with gore and 

 devoid of much of his plumage, and it took him several days to recover 

 his equilibrium. The din that the thousands of Penguins made was deafen- 

 ing, and was like the roar of a vast multitude of people. 



" The Antarctic Skua {Megalestris maccormicki) arrived on the same day 

 as the Penguins, singly at first ; a few days after in great numbers. They 

 are of a light brown colour and measure nearly 5 feet from tip to tip of the 

 wings. Being of a most predatory nature, they played great havoc among 

 the eggs and the young Penguins. Indeed, they may be said to live entirely 

 upon them during the breeding season, for wherever there are Penguins 

 the Skuas are not far away. On November the 2nd the Penguins com- 

 menced to lay their eggs. Two is the number laid, and an interval of three 

 days elapses between the laying of the first and the second egg. They are 

 white, and average from 2 to more than 3 inches in length, and from if 

 to 2 inches in breadth ; some are almost spherical in shape. The shell is 

 thick, and the inside has a greenish tint. The yolk is comparatively small, 

 the contents of the shell being mostly albumen. We collected some 4,000 

 of these eggs for dietary purposes and packed them in salt. They we're a 

 luxurious addition to our larder ; being utterly devoid of any strong flavour, 

 they were greatly relished. The poor Penguins, when robbed, looked 

 extremely.disconsolate ; however, there was some consolation to be derived 

 from the fact that we were not the only thieves, for a rapacious Skua would 

 walk up to a Penguin in the most barefaced manner and extract the egg 

 from underneath it. The eggs took exactly 3 1 days to incubate, the tem- 

 perature beneath the bird being 70 and 8o° Fahr. An actual observation 

 with the thermometer placed alongside the eggs gave 72 Fahr. 



" During the period of incubation absolutely no food of any kind was 

 taken, but it was observed that large quantities of snow were frequently 

 consumed. The first young appeared on 9th December. They were quaint 

 little creatures, of a dark slaty colour, the darkest towards the head, and 

 with dark feet and a dark rim around the eye, which subsequently changed 

 into the spotless white circle of the parent bird ; they grew very rapidly, 

 the dark legs at birth becoming in a few days quite pink. What a spirit 

 of homeliness, peace, and industry existed among them ! There were no 

 fights now. Indeed, the paterfamilias was much too engrossed to think 



