266 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.3. CHALLENGER. 



Penguins, which latter situation they seem to prefer. They make a neat and round cylin- 

 drical nest, which stands up from the ground, of tufts of grass, clay, and sedge. There is a 

 shallow concavity on the top for the bird to sit on, and the edge overhangs somewhat, 

 the old bird undermining it, as the Germans said, during incubation, by pecking away 

 the turf of which it is made. One nest measured was 14 inches in diameter and 10 

 inches in height. The nests when deserted and grass-grown make most convenient 

 seats. The birds lay a single egg about the size of a goose's, or somewhat larger, but 

 elongate, with one end larger than the other, as are all Albatross' eggs. The birds when 

 approached sit quietly on their nests or stand by them, and never attempt to fly ; indeed 

 they seem, when thus bent on nesting, to have almost forgotten the use of their wings. 

 Captain Carmichael, in his account of Tristan da Cunha, relates how he threw one of the 

 birds over a cliff and saw it fall like a stone without attempting to flap ; and yet these 

 birds will soar after a ship over the sea as cleverly as any other Albatross ; indeed, the 

 same peculiarity occurs in the case of the large Albatross when nesting. When bullied 

 with a stick or handled on the nests, the birds snap their bills rapidly together with a 

 defiant air, but they may be pushed or poked off with great ease. Usually a pair is to 

 be seen at each nest, and then, by standing near a short time, one may see a curious 

 courtship going on. The male stretches out his neck, erects his wings and feathers a little, 

 and utters a series of high-pitched rapidly repeated sounds, not unlike a shrill laugh; 

 as he does this he puts his head close up against that of the female. Then the female 

 stretches her neck straight up, and turning up her beak utters a similar sound, and rubs 

 bills with the male again. The same manoeuvre is constantly repeated. The Albatrosses 

 sometimes make their nests in the very middle of a Penguin road, but the two kinds of 

 birds live perfectly happily together. No fighting was observed, though, small as the Pen- 

 guins are, they could evidently drive out the Mollymauks if they wished. The ground 

 of the rookery is bored in all directions by the holes of Prions and Petrels, which thus live 

 under the Penguins. Their holes were not so numerous in the rookery at Inaccessible 

 Island as here. The holes add immensely to the difficulties of traversing a rookery, 

 since as one is making a rush, the ground is apt to give way, and give one a fall into the 

 black filthy mud amongst a host of furious birds. 



Besides the Mollymauks and Petrels, one or two pairs of Skuas (Stercorarius 

 antarcticus) had nests on a few mounds of earth in the rookery. How these mounds 

 came there it is difficult to explain. 



The rookery had evidently once been larger than at the time of the visit, 

 since a good part of the tall grass then not occupied by birds, had old deserted nests 

 amongst it ; probably the number of birds varies considerably each season. It is a remark- 

 able fact that the Penguins are migratory. They leave Inaccessible Island, the Germans 

 said, in the middle of April, after moulting, and return, the males in the last week of 

 July, the females about August 1 2th ; and it is improbable that the Germans could have 



