I 14 NIGHTINGALE ISLAND. 



had come on shore, full of the hardships they had suffered in 

 getting through the rookery, and looking forward with no 

 pleasure to the prospect of going back again through it. 



Two spaniels had been brought on shore and were taken 

 through the rookery, by being partly carried, partly dragged. 

 One of these was lost on the way back ; he would not face the 

 penguins and could not be carried all the way, so got left 

 behind, and I fear must have died and been eaten by Skuas. 



Poor old " Boss," Lieutenant Channer's pet, though one-eyed 

 and too old to be much good for shooting, was a favourite, and 

 we were all very sorry for him. Three volunteers charged back 

 into the rookery in search, but it was of no use. He was 

 frightened to death and would not answer to a call. 



The dogs brought to Inaccessible Island by the two Germans 

 ran wild in the penguin rookery, notwithstanding their exertions 

 to keep them at home, and finally the dogs had to be shot. 

 They fed themselves on the eggs and young. 



After getting through the rookery on to the rocks, it was 

 amusing to see the party arrive singly and in twos at all sorts of 

 points of the edge of the rookery and on the verge of the cliff, 

 having lost their direction, and often to their disgust having to 

 turn back through the edge of the rookery again to reach some 

 spot where they could get down to the sea. 



The penguins were having their evening bath and pluming 

 themselves on our arrival. The number of birds here must be 

 enormous. At least one-fourth of the surface of the island and 

 small outliers, for these also are rookeries, must be covered 

 by them ; taking thus a space a quarter of a mile square, 

 and allowing two only to a square yard, there would be nearly 

 400,000 penguins. 



The rookery has evidently once been larger than at present, 

 since a good part of the tall grass, now not occupied by birds, 

 had old deserted nests amongst it. Probably the number of 

 birds varies considerably each season. 



One of the most remarkable facts about the penguins is that 

 they are migratory ; they leave Inaccessible Island, as the 

 Germans told us, in the middle of April after moulting, and 

 return, the males in the last week of July, the females about 

 August 1 2th ; and I do not think it possible that the Germans 

 could have been mistaken. Whither can they go, and by what 

 means can they find their way back ? The question with 

 regard to birds that fly is difficult enough, but it may always be 

 supposed that they steer their course by landmarks seen at 

 great distances from great heights, or that they follow definite 

 lines of land. In the present case the birds can have abso- 

 lutely no landmarks, since from sea level Tristan da Cunha is 



