THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. 133 
Hunt, who for some time commanded at our 
settlement upon Falkland Islands, assures 
me that he was often amazed at the union 
preserved between these birds, and the re- 
gularity with which they built together. In 
that bleak and desolate spot, where the 
birds had long continued undisturbed pos- 
sessors, and no way dreaded the encroach- 
ment of men, they seemed to make their 
abode as comfortable as they expected it to 
be lasting. They were seen to build with 
an amazing degree of uniformity, their nests 
covering fields by thousands, and resembling 
a regular plantation. In the middle, on 
high, the Albatross raised its nests, on 
heath, sticks, and long grass, about two feet 
above the surface: round this, the Penguins 
made their own settlements, rather in holes 
in the ground, and most usually eight Pen- 
guins to one Albatross.’ Other accounts, as 
I have intimated, call the companions of the 
Penguins, of Falkland Islands, by the name 
of Pelicans. 
‘* Except for some particulars concerning 
the Albatross, in which sober history does 
not bear out the tender painting of the poet, 
N 
