AVES SPHENISCID^E. 113 



"There was no| a blade of grass on the rock, but it was covered with 

 guano, with little pools of filthy green water. The birds nested under 

 big stones, wherever there was place for them ; most of- the nests were, 

 however, quite in the open. The nests were formed of small stones and 

 shells of a Balanus, of which there were heaps washed up by the surf, and 

 of old bits of wood, nails, and bits of rope, picked up about the ruins of 

 a hut which were rotting on the island, together with an old sail, some 

 boat's spars, and bags of guano, evidently left behind by guano-seekers. 

 The object of thus making the nest is no doubt to some extent to secure 

 drainage in case of rain, and to keep the eggs out of water washing over 

 the rocks ; but the birds evidently have a sort of magpie-like delight in 

 curiosities. Spheniscus magellanicus at the Falkland Islands, similarly 

 collects variously colored pebbles at the mouth of its burrow. Two pairs 

 of the birds had built inside the ruins of the hut. 



"All the birds fought furiously, and were very hard to kill. They 

 make a noise very like the braying of donkeys, hence their name ; they do 

 not hop, but run or waddle. They do not leap out of the water like the 

 crested penguins when swimming, but merely come to the surface and sit 

 there like ducks for a while, and dive again. We dragged off a number 

 in the boat for stuffing, and took young and eggs ; the old ones fought 

 hard in the boat and tried to bite one another's eyes out." (Moseley, 

 Notes Natur. Chall., 1879, pp. 155-156.) 



"Not far from Stanley Harbour there are rookeries of the Magellan 

 jackass penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus]. The birds make large and 

 deep burrows in the peat banks on the sea-shores, and large numbers 

 make their burrows together, so that the ground is hollowed out in all 

 directions. 



"Round the mouths of their burrows and on the even surface of the 

 banks, between the holes, the birds lay out pebbles which they must carry 

 up from the sea-shore for the purpose. The pebbles are of various 

 colours, and the birds seem to collect them from curiosity, at least there 

 appears to be no other explanation of the fact. The edges of the birds' 

 bills are excessively sharp, and one of them bit me as I was trying to se- 

 cure it, and cut a strip out of my finger as clean as if it had been done 

 with a razor." (Moseley, Notes Natur. Chall., 1879, p. 560.) 



" But a no less curious sight was in store for us ; for on climbing to the 

 summit of one of the high banks, we beheld a company of penguins 



