4 o8 BREEDING-PLACES. 



company of soldiers; for they hold their heads very high, 

 with stretched necks, while their little flappers project like 

 two arms. As the feathers on their breasts are beautifully 

 white, with a line of black running across the crop, they have 

 been by others compared to a row of children, with white 

 aprons tied round their waists with black strings. 



The great Albatross, as we have seen, spends the chief part 

 of his life on the wing ; the King Penguin, on the other hand, 

 rarely quits the water, with the exception of the breeding 

 season, when in some places, though not always, as we shall 

 see in our account of the Albatross, in Tristan d'Acunha, both 

 unite in vast flocks, and people the rugged rocks for a time. 

 "When a sufficient number of these birds are assembled on the 

 shore, they appear, like the Herons, Storks, and some other 

 species we have mentioned in the preceding pages, to pass a 

 day or two in deliberation ; on concluding the consultation 

 they will proceed to the execution of the grand purpose for 

 which they are then and there assembled. 



A space of ground near the shore is selected and is taken up 

 by Penguins and Albatrosses, with the addition of a few other 

 sea-birds, which find places in unoccupied spots. But although 

 these Penguins and Albatrosses are on such intimate terms, 

 and appear to go on so well together, they not only form very 

 different nests, but the Penguin, when she can, will rob her 

 neighbour's. She merely makes a slight hollow in the earth, 

 just deep enough to prevent her single egg rolling out ; whereas 

 the Albatross throws up a little mound of earth, grass, and 

 shells, eight or ten inches high, about the size of a small water 

 bucket, on the top of which she sits. None of their nests are 

 ever left unoccupied for a single moment until the eggs are 

 hatched, and the young ones old enough to take care of them- 

 selves. The male goes to sea till he has satisfied his hunger, 

 and then returning, takes the place of his mate, when she flies 

 off for the same purpose. 



During this season the Penguins may be seen marching 

 round, or up and clown the pathways of this marine rookery, 

 as it may be termed, while the air is darkened by thousands 



