46 BIRDS OF KERGUELEN ISLAND, 



These brave little penguins had established a large rookery not more 

 than two miles from our station, where I found them nesting on the 7tli 

 of December. They had begun to appear along the coast early in 

 November ; two of them having been captured and skinned on the 1st 

 of that month. Probably, they begin to lay about the first of December. 

 The rookery above mentioned was established among the loose rocks, 

 from the crevices of which a coarse grass (Festuca) grew abundantly, 

 just where the debris from the precipice above makes a sort of steep 

 "lean-to" against its side, and sloping sharply into the sea. The nests 

 are rather more distinct than those of Pygoscelis, and most of them were 

 lined with dried grass. Each contained two white eggs, of which one 

 was usually larger than the other ; and both birds were, as a rule, by 

 each nest. Whether one hunts to feed the other or not, I cannot say. 

 A small flock came in from sea while I was present, announcing their 

 arrival by a single shrill whistle, frequently repeated, and answered from 

 the shore. They were wonderfully courageous, erecting their sulphur- 

 colored plumes, and trembling all over with excitement on my approach, 

 while they kept up a strident cackling that was almost deafening. Al- 

 though knocked off their nests and down over the steep rocks for often 

 twelve or fifteen feet, they would pick themselves up and scramble back 

 again with unabated courage, threatening, and even biting sharply, to 

 the very last. I suppose that the thick layer of fat beneath the skin, 

 liarticularly abundant in this species at this time, serves as a protection 

 against the hard knocks which they frequently get in falling from the 

 rocks; no ordinary fall seeming to have the least effect upon them. 

 They seem to dread far more the attacks of their neighbors, which harry 

 them from almost every crevice as soon as they leave their own proper 

 nest. The whaler's epithet " rock-hopper" is in this case particularly 

 well applied, since they are the most agile of all penguins, skipping 

 from rock to rock, climbing very steep inclined surfaces, and getting 

 over the ground with great speed. It is worthy of notice that these pen- 

 guins always hop, using both feet at a time like a sparrow, and never 

 walk, as do other genera. Cormorants and Chionis were their nearest 

 and most friendly neighbors, particularly the latter. As soon as one is 

 knocked off" its nest, its mate immediately covers the egg, showing the 

 same anxiety and courage. No eggs had been hatched so late as Janu- 

 ary 4, the date of mj^ last visit to the rookery. 



The apparent widening of the cheeks, caused by the erectile plumes 

 and the position of the feathers below them, with the plumes themselves, 



