236 



THE OOLOGIST 



Birds on the breeding grounds, same Island 



The farmers in South Africa are 

 given a great advantage by the gov- 

 ernment in being supplied guano at 

 about three fifths of its value, but the 

 quantity which the government is able 

 to supply from its insular possessions 

 is so small, as the importations from 

 other sources evidence, that there is a 

 good field for other lines of fertiliz- 

 ers. The farmers too are in many in- 

 stances using guano where other fer- 

 tilizers are needed, and could be sup- 

 plied at much lower cost to them. 

 With the advent of more modern and 

 scientific methods of agriculture, there 

 will be increased demands for ferti- 

 lizers and our American exporters of 

 them should make a greater effort to 

 introduce their goods. 



Penguin eggs forms another inter- 

 esting export. The quantity of pen- 

 guin eggs collected annually from the 

 islands amounts to about 600,000. 

 These are sold by contract to a Cape 



Town firm, Messrs. Miller and Traut, 

 at 21 cents per dozen. The demand 

 for these eggs in South Africa is not 

 increasing, but rather the reverse, as 

 hens' eggs become more plentiful and 

 consequently cheaper. They cannot 

 be said to take the place of fowls' 

 eggs except in cases where the fishy 

 taste of their yolk is disguised in 

 cooking, or with certain people who 

 do not object to it. An effort was 

 made to introduce their use into Eng- 

 land in 1908, and with considerable 

 success, as shown by the following ex- 

 tracts from the London Daily Mirror 

 of May 5th and 7th, 1908: 



"Penguin's eggs, the very latest 

 breakfast food for jaded appetites, 

 have come to London to stay. 



"As already announced in the 

 'Daily Mirror' 4,800 penguin's eggs 

 have been exported from South Afri- 

 ca to England, through the agency of 

 the Cape Trades Commissioner, in or- 



