A LITTLE PENGUIN 299 



little time, he dived and brought weeds to it, as he 

 did the other night. Then the female — who had, 

 probably, sat all night, and would not have left till 

 now, had I not disturbed her — came off, diving as 

 she entered the water, and disappearing from that 

 moment. The male, who was not far from the 

 nest, swam to it, and took her place, where I left 

 him, shortly afterwards, at 8.35. The eggs had 

 been left uncovered by the female when she went, 

 this last time, and this seems natural, as she, no 

 doubt, knew the male had come to relieve her. 



Next morning I approached the stream from the 

 Herringswell direction, and crept up behind the 

 bushes, on the bank, without having once — so it 

 seemed to me — been in view of the bird, which I 

 had no doubt would be in its accustomed place. 

 However, as soon as, peeping through, I could see 

 the nest, I saw that it was empty. On going to the 

 gate and waiting for some ten minutes, the bird 

 appeared as before, and, jumping up, commenced 

 rapidly to remove the weeds from the eggs, standing 

 up like a penguin, and with the same hurried, 

 excited little manner that I had noticed on the first 

 occasion of its doing so. Not only had it seen me, 

 therefore, or become aware of my presence, but it 

 had had time to cover its eggs, and this very effi- 

 ciently, to judge by the amount of weed it threw 

 aside. After this I was nearly a week away, and, on 

 visiting the nest again, nothing fresh happened, ex- 

 cept that the two birds made, in the water, that 

 little rejoicing together which I have described in 

 the last chapter. The same note is uttered, there- 

 fore, and the same little scene enacted between 



