74 



THE CONDOR 



Vol. IX 



graphs they sit very low in the water when swimming and at the slightest alarm pop 

 down below the surface very quietly and without any splash or jump, forming in 

 this respect a marked contrast to the Duikers or Cormorants which are also very 

 numerous on the island. 



The food of the Penguin consists entirely of fish caught by diving and of these 

 they must consume enormous quantities; when captured they are invariably very 

 fat with a ver}^ thick layer of blubber underlying the skin and on this they can live 

 many weeks without feeding. 



The breeding season of the main body of the Penguins is in May and June 

 (midwinter in South Africa), though eggs and young at all stages can be found the 

 whole year round so that the time of our visit was not very favourable for seeing 

 the island really covered with birds. Between May and August the eggs are col- 

 lected and shipped to Cape Town for sale and the birds are not allowed to sit until 

 the beginning of September. These islands and the other Bird islands round the 

 coast of Cape Colony belong to the Government and are each placed under the 

 charge of a headman. During the egg season a number of additional men, hired 

 for the purpose by the headman, march across the island in different directions each 



hLOCK OF PENGUINS ABOUT TO LAND ON THEIR NESTING ISLAND 



one provided with a basket and a kitchen ladle tied onto the end of a long stick. 

 This is used for scooping the eggs out of the burrows from underneath the birds. 

 From Dassen Island an average number of about three hundred thousand (300,000) 

 are gathered in this way each season and as this does not include incubated and 

 broken eggs the number taken altogether cannot be much less than half a million. 

 According to the Official Government returns the total number gathered from all 

 the islands in 1902 was 469,400 valued at $8405, while in 1901 the number was 

 630,000 valued at $9,845. 



The eggs are sold in Cape Town and other large centres and are eaten chiefly 

 b}^ the coloured population. Though a little fishy they are quite pleasant to the 

 taste, the albumen being slightly bluish and transparent like that of a Plover's egg 

 when boiled. 



Of the other birds on the island by far the most numerous are the ' 'Trek 

 Duikers" (i. e.. Wandering Divers), a species of Cormorant i^Phalacrocorax 

 capcnsis) . This bird is one of the group of Cormorants with fourteen tail feathers 

 and has a completely black plumage with a patch of yellow naked skin at the base 



