Occasional Notes. 125 



two o£ tho birds paired, and made a rude nost on a kind o£ 

 terrace in the rockwork. The material consisted for the 

 most part of dry sticks and twigs, and mixed with these 

 were fish-bones and pieces of fish dried by exposure. Two 

 eggs were laid, the second three days after the first ; tlie 

 male bird took his fidl share of the duties of incubation, and 

 the young were hatched out exactly five weeks after the 

 deposition of the second egg. The chicks are clothed in 

 dusky down, and are closely covered by the hen })ird. 

 According to the general belief, the parents feed the young 

 for a considerable time, inserting their bill in that of the 

 nestling. It will be interesting to have this point established, 

 or disproved, by the observation of the keepers. The converse 

 method is adopted by the Common Cormorant ; the half- 

 digested fish is regurgitated, and the young bird inserts its 

 bill in that of the parent. Two other Penguins in the same 

 enclosure have paired, and selected a site quite different in 

 character from that selected by the first pair — namely, 

 between two pieces of rockwork, and sheltered by a third. 

 From the observations of naturalists it would seem that in a 

 rookery these birds avail themselves of shelter, when it can 

 be found, nestino- under overhanoino- stones or burrowino- 

 according to the character of the ground, and only building 

 in the open from necessity. Black-footed Penguins have 

 nested in the Jardin d^Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, 

 where they were kept in a large enclosure. Small dog- 

 kennels were utilized as nesting-boxes, and young birds 

 have been hatched and reared.'^ 



(10) An appreciative notice of No. 1, Vol. II. of this 

 Journal appears in the October 190G number of ' The Ibis.' 



(11) Close Season for Waterfowl. — There has been 

 lately considerable agitation amongst sportsmen in the 

 Transvaal towards the grant of permission to shoot Wild 

 Geese and Duck outside the present open season. At present 

 all Geese and Ducks are included in the Game schedule, and 



