218 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



They feed upon fish ; and seldom come 

 ashore, except in the breeding season. As 

 the seas in that part of the world abound with 

 a variety, they seldom want food ; and their 

 extreme fatness, seems a proof of the plenty 

 in which they live. They dive with great 

 rapidity, and are voracious to a great degree. 

 One of them, described by Clusius, though 

 but very young, would swallow an entire 

 herring at a mouthful, and often three succes- 

 sively before it was appeased. In conse- 

 quence of this gluttonous appetite, their flesh 

 is rank and fishy; though our sailors say, 

 that it is pretty good eating. In some the 

 flesh is so tough, and the feathers so thick, 

 that they stand the blow of a scimitar without 

 injury. 



They are a bird of society ; and, especially 

 when they come on shore, they are seen 

 drawn up in rank and file, upon the ledge of 

 a rock, standing together with the albatross, 

 as if in consultation. This is previous to 

 their laying, which generally begins, in that 

 part of the world, in the month of November. 

 Their preparations for laying are attended 

 with no great trouble, as a small depression in 

 the earth, without any other nest, serves for 

 this purpose. The warmth of their feathers 

 and the heat of their bodies is such, that the 

 progress of incubation is carried on very 

 rapidly. 



But there is a difference in the manner of 

 this bird's nestling in other countries, which I 

 can only ascribe to the frequent disturbances 

 it has received from man or quadrupeds in its 

 recesses. In some places, instead of content- 



fancy myself in a kingdom of pigmies. The regularity 

 of their manners, their all sitting in exact rows, resem- 

 bling more the order of a camp than a rookery of noisy 

 birds, delighted me. These creatures did not move 

 away on our approach, but only increased their noise, 

 so we were obliged to displace them forcibly from their 

 nests; and this ejectment was not produced without a 

 considerable struggle on their parts; and, being armed 

 with a formidable beak, it soon became a scene of 

 desperate warfare. We had to take particular care to 

 protect our hands and legs from their attacks; and for 

 this purpose each one had provided himself with a short 

 stout club. The noise they continued to make during 

 our ramble through their territories, the sailors said 

 was, ' caver 'em up, cover 'em up.' And, however 

 incredible it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that I 

 heard those words so distinctly repeated, and by such 

 various tones of voices, that several times I started, and 

 expected to see one of the men at my elbow. Even 

 these little creatures, as well as the monstrous sea- 

 elephant, appear to keep up a continued warfare with 

 each other. As the penguins sit in rows, forming 

 regular lanes leading down to the beach, whenever one 

 of them feels an inclination to refresh herself by a plunge 

 into the sea, she has to run the gauntlet through the 

 whole ttreet, every one pecking at her as she passes 

 without mercy ; and though all are occupied in the 

 same employment, not the smallest degree of friendship 

 seems to exist ; and whenever we turned one off her 

 nest, she was sure to bu thrown among foes; and, be- 

 sides the loss of her eggs, was invariably doomed to re- 



ing itself with a superficial depression in the 

 earth, the penguin is found to burrow two or 

 three yards deep : in other places it is seen 

 to forsake the level, and to clamber up the 

 ledge of a rock, where it lays its egg, and 

 hatches it in that bleak exposed situation. 

 These precautions may probably have been 

 taken, in consequence of dear-bought experi- 

 ence. In those places where the bird fears 

 for her own safety, or that of her young, she 

 may providently provide against danger, by 

 digging, or even by climbing ; for both 

 which she is but ill adapted by nature. In 

 those places, however, where the penguin has 

 had but few visits from man, her nest is made, 

 with the most confident security, in the middle 

 of some large plain, where they are seen by 

 thousands. In that unguarded situation, 

 neither expecting nor fearing a powerful 

 enemy, they continue to sit brooding ; and 

 even when man comes among them, have at 

 first no apprehension of their danger. Some 

 of this tribe have been called by our seamen, 

 the Booby ,' from the total insensibility which 

 they show when they are sought to their 

 destruction. But it is not considered that 

 these birds have never been taught to know 

 the dangers of a human enemy ; it is against 

 the fox or the vulture that they have learned 

 to defend themselves ; but they have no idea 

 of injury from a being so very unlike their 

 natural opposers. The penguins, therefore, 

 when our seamen first came among them, 

 tamely suffered themselves to be knocked on 

 the head, without even attempting an escape. 

 They have stood to be shot at in flocks, with- 



ceive a severe beating and pecking from her com- 

 panions. Each one lays three eggs, and, after a time, 

 when the young are strong enough to undertake the 

 journey, they go to sea, and are not again seen till the 

 ensuing spring. Their city is deserted of its numerous 

 inhabitants, and quietness reigns till nature prompts 

 their return the following year, when the same noisy 

 scene is repeated, as the same flocks of birds return to 

 the spot where they were hatched. After raising a 

 tremendous tumult in this numerous colony, and sus- 

 taining continued combat, we came off victorious, mak- 

 ing capture of about a thousand eggs, resembling in 

 size, colour, and transparency of shell, those of a duck ; 

 and the taking possession of this immense quantity did 

 not occupy more than one hour, which may serve to 

 prove the incalculable numbers of birds collected to- 

 gether. We did not allow them sufficient time, after 

 landing, to lay all their eggs; for, had the season been 

 farther advanced, and we had found three eggs in each 

 nest, the whole of them might probably have proved 

 addled, the young partly formed, and the eggs of no use 

 to us ; but the whole of those we took turned out good, 

 and had a particularly fine and delicate flavour. It 

 was a work of considerable difficulty to get our booty 

 safe into the boat so frail a cargo with so tremendous 

 a surf running against us. However, we finally suc- 

 ceeded, though not without smashing a considerable 

 number of the eggs." Earle's ' Narrative of a Resi~ 

 dence in New Zealand and Tristan d'Acunha* 



1 The Booby belongs to the pelican tribe, and not to 

 the penguins. 



