ix.] HABITS OF SOME BIEDS. 189 



I have little to remark on the zoology of these islands. I have 

 before described the carrion-vulture or Polyborus. There are some 

 other hawks, owls, and a few small land-birds. The water-fowl 

 are particularly numerous, and they must formerly, from the 

 accounts of the old navigators, have been much more so. One 

 day I observed a cormorant playing with a fish which it had 

 caught. Eight times successively the bird let its prey go, then 

 dived after it, and although in deep water, brought it each time 

 to the surface. In the Zoological Gardens I have seen the otter 

 treat a fish in the same manner, much as a cat does a mouse : I 

 do not know of any other instance where dame Nature appears 

 so wilfully cruel. Another day, having placed myself between a 

 penguin (Aptenodytes demersa) and the water, I was much amused 

 by watching its habits. It was a bravo bird ; and till reaching 

 the sea, it regularly fought and drove me backwards. Nothing 

 less than heavy blows would have stopped him ; every inch he 

 gained he firmly kept, standing close before me erect and 

 determined. When thus opposed he continually rolled his head 

 from side to side, in a very odd manner, as if the power of distinct 

 vision lay only in the anterior and basal part of each eye. This 

 bird is commonly called the jackass penguin, from its habit, while 

 on shore, of throwing its head backwards, and making a loud 

 strange noise, very like the braying of an ass; but while at sea, 

 and undisturbed, its note is very deep and solemn, and is often 

 heard in the night-time. In diving, its little wings are used as 

 fins ; but on the land, as front legs. When crawling, it may be 

 said on four legs, through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy 

 cliff, it moves so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for 

 a quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for 

 the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again so 

 instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it 

 was not a fish leaping for sport. 



Two kinds of geese frequent the Falklands. The upland species 

 (Anas Magellauica) is common, in pairs and in small flocks, 

 throughout the island. They do not migrate, but build on the 

 small outlying islets. This is supposed to be from fear of the 

 foxes : and it is perhaps from the same cause that these birds, 

 though very tame by day, are shy and wild in the dusk of the 

 evening. They live entirely on vegetable matter. The rock-goose 

 so called from living exclusively on the sea-beach (Anas antarctica), 



