134 CAPE OF GOOD IIOl'E. 



covered with guano, with little pools of filthy green water. 

 The birds nested under big stones, wherever there was place 

 for them ; most of the nests were, however, quite in the open. 

 The nests were formed of small stones and shells of a Balanus, 

 of which there were heaps washed up by the surf, and of old 

 bits of wood, nails, and bits of rope, picked up about the ruins 

 of a hut which were rotting on the island, together with an old 

 sail, some boat's spars, and bags of guano, evidently left behind 

 by guano-seekers. The object of thus making the nest is no 

 doubt to some extent to secure drainage in case of rain, and 

 to keep the eggs out of water washing over the rocks ; but the 

 birds evidently have a sort of magpie-like delight in curiosities : 

 Spheniscus mageUanicus^ at the Falkland Islands, similarly 

 collects variously coloured pebbles at the mouth of its burrow. 

 Two pairs of the birds had built inside the ruins of the hut. 



All the birds fought furiously, and were very hard to kill. 

 They make a noise very like the braying of donkeys, hence 

 their name ; they do not hop, but run or waddle. They do 

 not leap out of the water like the crested penguins when 

 swimming, but merely come to the surface and sit there like 

 ducks for a while, and dive again. We dragged off a number 

 in the boat for stuffing, and took young and eggs ; the old 

 ones fought hard in the boat and tried to bite one another's 

 eyes out. 



There w\as a large flock of terns on the rock, rendering it 

 quite white on one part, but they were not nesting. There 

 were plenty of shags' nests, some few with young ones, but 

 most of them were already relinquished : they were built on a 

 higher standing-piece of the rock, and were large round deep 

 nests made of dried seaweed. 



There is a great iishery at the Cape of a fish called " Snook," 

 a sort of Barracuda, which is salted and dried, and sent mainly 

 to Mauritius for sale. The Snook boats were always to be 

 seen about in the bay. The fish are caught with a hook and 

 line, whilst the boat is in motion. The fishermen are especially 

 careful not to get bitten by the fish as they haul them in ; 

 wounds caused by their bites are said to fester in a violent 

 manner as if specially poisoned. 



From a scientific point of view, the most interesting fish 

 which is caught at the Cape is a large Myxinoid {Bde Ho stoma) 

 allied to the lamprey. Two or three of these were caught 

 with a hand line and fish bait from our ship whilst at anchor 

 at Simons Bay, and they are not at all uncommon, though 

 so very rare in European museums. The specimens caught 

 were nearly three feet in length. They swallowed the bait far 

 down, and astonished the sailors by the immense quantity of 



