Birds of the South Orkney Islands. 183 



winter-conditions became fairly established only some twenty 

 or thirty remained, and for many days during that drear 

 season were the only living creatures observed. These pen- 

 sioners eked out an existence on the refuse odds and ends 

 which were daily thrown out from the ' Scotia/ One of 

 the birds became very tame, and for a number of days in 

 succession visited the ship, remaining all day either in the 

 fo'c'sle or in the galley. 



Late in September and during the first half of October 



many returned to their summer-quarters, and their numbers 



greatly increased when the ice broke up on November 23rd. 



The first eggs were found on December 11th, when eleven 



(two clutches of three, two of two, and a single egg) were 



taken, but some of these proved to be considerably incubated. 



A nest found on December 3rd was on a ledge under an 



overhanging rock, and was composed of small stones and 



Penguins' tail-feathers. Five nests were found on the 11th 



in the large Penguin-rookery in Scotia Bay : four of these 



were on the fringe of the colony and quite low down, 



being only from ten to twenty feet above sea-level, and 



placed in crevices of rocks or underneath boulders on the 



moraine; while the other nest was under a large boulder 



about one hundred feet up the moraine, and right iu the 



midst of the Penguins (see Plate XIII. fig. 1). These nests 



were mainly composed of the shells of Penguins' eggs, bones, 



and feathers, and a number of limpet-shells. The position 



of the nest is not difficult to detect, for one of the birds 



generally sits on a rock close by. The eggs are usually three 



in number. 



Fresh eggs marked on December 11th hatched on 

 January 7th, an incubation-period of twenty-eight days. 

 The newly-hatched young are clad in brown down and shew 

 conspicuous bare patches ; they are not by any means pretty 

 objects like the young Penguins and Skuas. On January 29th 

 white feathers were beginning to develop under the down 

 of these chicks ; and by February 11th the down had nearly 

 all disappeared. 



These birds were found to be very tame and unwilling to 



