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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Uij'uiigli iJic ])L'aly soil into a penguin 

 buj'i'ow, alwu3s extracting my i'oot 

 tlierei'roni witli alacrity for fear of the 

 jtowcrl'iil he'aks of the penguins. At the 

 far end of the island a pond was dis- 

 covered which the ducks and geese used 

 as a refuge while molting their wing- 

 feathers and bringing up their young. 

 A small Jlock of teal and another of 

 gj-ay ducks swam about on friendly 

 lei'uis with the diminutive brant areese, 

 ahlioiigh the latter were not on very 

 friendly terms with an aggressive uj)- 

 ]a]id goose and his family that were also 

 usi])g the water as a safeguard against 

 my too close approach. 



As 1 rounded one of the j)oints that 

 jutted into the sound, a female kelp 

 goose was seen ahead with four downy 

 youjig birds, quite a distance from the 

 shore. tShe saw ]ue at once and started 

 for Hie water with her goslings, while I 

 liiin-ied to head hei' back out on the 

 open liillside, and reached the beach 

 just ill time to do so. After getting the 

 young birds a safe distance from the 

 \\aler, 1 attempted repeatedly to set up 

 Hie eainera and get a picture of the 

 group. The young birds would have' 

 stood all right, I think, but their parents 

 (the male having joined us soon after 

 lie saw the tripod and camera a part of 

 Hie landscape) would persist in leading 

 tliem oir. Sometimes the male would 

 t;ike (Mie. two, or three of the yoimgsters 

 ;inil sti'ide oil' in a diU'ereiit direction 

 thnii llinl headed for by his companion; 

 then 1 would herd them hack together 

 again. Finally 1 discarded the trijiod 

 and look a snap or two with the eamera 

 in my hand as the little family hurried 

 away from me. 



IJetiirniug along tlie other shorewhere 

 rugged clitfs kept back the sea, several 

 night herons' nests were seen. The 

 locations were those usually selected by 

 boobies or terns, duck hawks or liald 

 engles, rather than spots which niglit 

 liei'ons in the temperate region of the 

 A\'estern ncmisphere usually select for 

 j)lacing their eggs. They were all on 



the overhanging clilis a hundred feet 

 or more above the tempestuous sea. 

 Below, or near them, the black-necked 

 shags were rearing broods. One pair 

 had hollowed out the top of a tussac 

 mound within thirty feet of the top of 

 the cliff, and by using the long focus 

 lens a photograph was obtained for a 

 record, this being the only chance of- 

 fered by this species that came to my 

 notice. 1 was surprised to lind it was 

 four o'clock in the afternooji when the 

 night heron's nest was left behind, and 

 being three miles from the house, 1 set 

 out for there Avithout searching for 

 other nests. 



The next day began with a high wind 

 which continued blowing all da}^, but it 

 proved, I think, the finest day photo- 

 graphically I ever cnjoj'ed. Starting 

 toward the west end of the island, as 

 eastward had been the course the day 

 before, about two miles from the house 

 the gentoo penguin eolonv was reached. 

 Here 3^oung birds crouched under 

 the sitting parents, all faced toward the 

 sweeping wind. Over the hill from the 

 south shore, birds were continually com- 

 ing into view, walking along their ac- 

 customed track, passing through lloeks 

 of feeding sheep at times, and usually 

 finishing up the long walk with a hur- 

 ried little run as they came down tJie 

 sloping ])asture to the rookery. It 

 seemed very strange to Jiie, as it does 

 to other humans, that the birds should 

 land on the south side of the island, 

 walk a mile up a slo])e and down on Hie 

 other side to place their nests within a 

 hundred yards of the water on the o])- 

 posite side of the island from where 

 ihey land. One small colony of a few 

 dozen birds had perhaps seen the folly 

 of this procedure, for they had walk(>d 

 back only three hundred yards or so 

 and built nests; but the overwhelm- 

 ingly greater number s])ent an hour oi- 

 more every time they left the beach to 

 cross the intervening space between 

 water and nest while beautiful landing 

 ])laces with deep water were within 



