Visit to Dassen Island. 521 



Here and there could be seen solemn troops raarching in 

 regular order two and two across the rocks that line the 

 beach, to the sea, to get their breakfast. If an approach was 

 made with care and aided by a little gentle whistling, it was 

 quite possible to get within three or four yards of the birds. 

 According to the information I obtained from Mr. Almeda, 

 the Penguins are to be found breeding here the whole year 

 round, and certainly I fouud on this occasion both eggs and 

 young in various stages of development. The egg-season 

 lasts from the loth of February to the 15th of August, and 

 it is only during that time that they are collected. Mr. Al- 

 meda has a number of men in his service who march every 

 day in a long line across the island in different directions, 

 each man provided with a basket and a kitchen ladle tied to 

 the end of a long stick, which lie uses for scooping the eggs 

 out of the burrows from underneath the birds. The average 

 nund)er of eggs obtained in this way amounts to about 

 '500,000 per annum. This does not include the incubated 

 and broken eggs, so that the number taken altogether must 

 be not less than half a million, and the revenue derived from 

 this source reaches upwards of ^700 a year. 



The other birds which I observed on the island were first 

 of all Gulls of two species, Larus doniinicaaus and Larus 

 hartluubi. These two Gulls are also to be found everywhere 

 along the coast in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, but do 

 not breed, so (ar as I was able to ascertain, on Dassen Island. 

 The Sacred Ibis {Ibis (ethiopica), known to the Dutch 

 Colonists as the " Schoorsteenveger,^' or Chimney-sweeper, 

 was also seen on Dassen Island, and is stated to breed here 

 in considerable numbers, although I did not myself find the 

 nests. 



The most important and numerous, however, of all the 

 birds inhabiting the island are the Cormorants, or Duykers 

 (Divers) as they are called in South Africa. Of these, no 

 less than 4 species breed here; these are the large White- 

 breasted Duyker {Plidlacrocorax lucidus), the Trek Duykcr 

 (/*. copcnsis), the Bank Duyker (P. neylectus), and the Reed 

 Duykcr (P. nfricoiii/s). 



