220 THE OCEAN. 



and pursues its way. On the sandy shores or flat 

 rocks in the Southern Ocean, the Penguins, of several 

 species, assemble in innumerable multitudes, for the 

 purpose of hatching their eggs and rearing their 

 young. The feet are placed very far back on the 

 body, so that the bird assumes an erect position 

 when resting or walking on land ; and from their 

 posture, their colours, their numbers, and their orderly 

 arrangement, they have been compared, when seen at 

 a distance, to an army of disciplined soldiers. One 

 voyager likens them to a troop of little children 

 standing up in white aprons, from their white bellies 

 contrasting with their blue backs. The presence of 

 these birds is described as greatly increasing the 

 dreary character of these desolate regions ; their per- 

 fect indifference to man conveying an almost awful 

 impression of their loneliness. The intrusion of 

 seamen even into the very midst of them causes no 

 alarm, no resistance is offered, no escape is attempted ; 

 the birds immediately gaze around with a sidelong 

 glance at the visitors, but they move not from their 

 eggs, standing quietly while their companions are 

 one by one knocked on the head, and waiting with- 

 out dread till their own turn comes. We can scarcely 

 form an adequate idea of one of these camps or 

 towns, as they have been appropriately called. A 

 space of ground, covering three or four acres, is laid 

 out and levelled, and then divided into squares for 

 the nests, as accurately as if done by a surveyor: 

 between these compartments they march and coun- 

 termarch with an order and regularity that remind 

 one of soldiers on parade. But what shall we say to a 



