Vol. II, Pt. I] GIFFORD— BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS 81 



of Narborough Island and the adjacent coast of western Albe- 

 marle. We saw it commonly about the east coast of the former 

 island, and at Banks Bay on the latter. At Tagus Cove two 

 were seen, one on April 7 and the other on April 19. We 

 never saw as many together at one time as we did of the 

 penguins at Iguana Cove, the limit being less than a dozen. 

 The extreme lack of wariness of these birds will probably 

 cause their total extinction when man more commonly fre- 

 quents this portion of the archipelago. Their small numbers 

 and their much restricted habitat would seem to indicate that 

 they are on the verge of extinction. 



As the name denotes, these creatures are flightless ; and we 

 never observed them attempt to fly even when hard pressed. 

 While sitting in their usual upright position, the wings are 

 often held half spread and away from the body, as shown in 

 plate 10, volume 9 of Novitates Zoologicae. 



They are expert swimmers and divers. In diving, the bird 

 acts differently from the Galapagos Penguin; for instead of 

 merely submerging itself like a seal, it makes a sort of jump, 

 throwing its head and neck forward at the same time, dis- 

 appearing head first. One bird, when finally driven from its 

 nest, swam under water very swiftly for fifty feet or more. 



When it comes to progression on land, however, they are 

 not so agile, their large bodies and short legs greatly impeding 

 their progress. On level ground they waddle, but where 

 rocks or other obstacles are in the way, they proceed by short 

 jumps, keeping in an upright position all the time. They 

 were seen to jump up on rocks six or seven inches high, but 

 sometimes had to make two or three trials before getting over 

 difficult places. Upon leaving the water they always stood 

 and shook themselves. It was not uncommon to see several 

 sitting upon some black lava-point or islet, usually near their 

 nests. 



On land they were easy of approach, and one could usually 

 walk up to them and kill them with a stick. On" the water 

 they w^ere warier, but were usually approached within shot- 

 gun range. We observed none in the surf as reported by 

 other visitors, for the simple reason that there was no surf 

 at the time of our visits. 



August 8, 1913 



