I02 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



"Other smaller roads led at intervals into the rookery to the nests near 

 its border, but the main street was used by the majority of birds. The 

 birds took little notice of us, allowing us to stand close by, and even to 

 form ourselves into a group for the photographer, in which they were 

 included. 



"This kind. of penguin is called by the whalers and sealers 'rock hop- 

 per,' from its curious mode of progression. The birds hop from rock to 

 rock with both feet placed together, scarcely ever missing their footing. 

 When chased, they blunder and fall amongst the stones, struggling their 

 best to make off. 



"With one of the Germans as guide, I entered the main street. As 

 soon as one was in it, the grass being above one's head, one was as if in 

 a maze, and could not see in the least where one was going to. Various 

 lateral streets lead off on each side from the main road, and are often at 

 their mouths as big as it ; moreover, the road sometimes divides for a little 

 and joins again ; hence it is the easiest thing in the world to lose one's 

 way. 



"You plunge into one of the lanes in the tall grass which at once shuts 

 out the surroundings from your view. You tread on a slimy black damp 

 soil composed of the birds' dung. The stench is overpowering, the yell- 

 ing of the birds perfectly terrifying ; I can call it nothing else. You lose 

 the path, or perhaps are bent from the first in making direct for some spot 

 on the other side of the rookery. 



"In the path only a few droves of penguins, on their way to and from 

 the water are encountered, and these stampede out of your way into the 

 side alleys. Now you are, the instant you leave the road, on the actual 

 breeding ground. The nests are placed so thickly that you cannot help 

 treading on eggs and young birds at almost every step. 



"A parent bird sits on each nest, with its sharp beak erect and open, 

 ready to bite, yelling savagely 'caa, caa, urr, urr,' its red eye gleaming 

 and its plumes at half cock, and quivering with rage. 



"These penguins make a nest which is simply a shallow depression in 

 the black dirt scantily lined with a few bits of grass or not lined at all. 

 They lay two greenish white eggs about as big as duck eggs, and both 

 male and female incubate." (H. M. Moseley, M.A., F.R.S., "Notes by 

 a Naturalist on the 'Challenger,'" 1879, pp. 117, 119, 120, 121.) 



"Before going on board we went to see a collection of penguins from 



