290 THE VOYAGE OF PI. M.S. CHALLENGER. 



apparently moulting at the time of the visit. At Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen Island, 

 small droves of them "camped" as the sealers term it, at 100 feet at least, up the 

 steep but green hillside at the end of the harbour. These Penguins do not hop, but run, 

 and when closely pursued throw themselves on their bellies on the ground, and struggle 

 along, rowing themselves with violent blows of their wings on the sand or mud, dashing 

 the mud into the eyes of their pursuers. When in the water, as they come to the 

 surface, they make a sort of very feeble imitation of the leap of the Crested Penguins, 

 never throwing the whole of the body out of the water, but only the back. They are 

 also to be seen swimming about when undisturbed with their head and back out of the 

 water, and the body horizontal. 



Another Penguin, the "Rockhopper" (Eudyptes chrysocome), the same species that 

 occurs at Tristan da Cunha, was nesting about the low cliffs on the shore. The ground 

 on which the nests were made was very wet and filthy, and the nests were like those of 

 the Jackass Penguins at the Cape of Good Hope, made of small stones, raising the egg 

 about an inch from the mud. These Penguins were exactly like the Tristan ones in 

 their cry, and quite as savage, but they were in full sight, and not amongst grass ; 

 for though there was plenty of grass just over them, nearly a foot in height, they prefer 

 to build where the ground is quite bare. The birds therefore for some reason have 

 adopted slightly different habits from those, of the representatives of the species at 

 Tristan da Cunha. 



Most interesting, however, by far, amongst all the rookeries was one of King 

 Penguins (Aptenodytes longirostris) , met with a little further along the shore. The 

 rookery was on a space of perfectly flat ground about an acre in extent, and w T as divided 

 into two irregular portions, a larger and smaller, by some grassy mounds. The flat space 

 itself had a filthy black slimy surface ; but the soil was trodden hard and smooth. 

 About two-thirds of the space of the larger portion of the rookery was occupied 

 by King Penguins, standing bolt upright, with their beaks upturned, side by side, as 

 thick as they could pack, and jostling one another when disturbed. The King Penguins 

 stand about 3 feet high, and are distinguished at once not only by their size, but by 

 two narrow streaks of bright orange yellow, one on each side of the glistening white 

 throat. These Penguins were to be seen coming from and going to the sea from the 

 rookery, but singly, and not in companies like the Crested Penguins. The King Penguins, 

 when disturbed, made a loud sound like "urr-urr-urr." They run with their bodies held 

 perfectly upright, getting over the ground pretty fast, and do not hop at all. A good 

 many were in bad plumage, moulting, but there were plenty also in the finest plumage. 

 The smaller area of the rookery, which consisted of a flat space sheltered all round 

 by grassy slopes, forming a sort of bay amongst these, and communicating with the 

 larger area by two comparatively narrow passages, was the breeding establishment. 



These Penguins are said by some observers to set apart different spaces in their 



