on Birds seen during the Cruise of the " Valhalla" R. Y.S. 85


there, but even if it was so it did not matter as many thousands

of Jackass Penguins were on every side, the island being practi-

cally covered. They were breeding everywhere : many had

eggs, some in slight hollows in the ground, others in burrows,

and fountains of sand might be seen flying up in all directions

where burrowing was going on. There were many young of all

sizes ; and quantities of dead young were lying about. The

Penguins were quite indifferent to us, and beyond biting your

fingers if you put your hand under a sitting bird, took 110 notice.

Many groups of moulting birds were about : these never go to

sea during the moult. The pairs are very affectionate, and it is

very comical to see the male guiding the female the way he

wants her to go with a flipper. Large numbers of the eggs are

eaten in Cape Town, principally by the Malays. They are the

size of Turkey's, very strong in the shell, and greenish in colour.

The male collects a certain amount of nesting material, but no

nest is built. This is the Penguin that may be seen living,

thriving and breeding in the Sea-L,ions' enclosure at the Zoo-

logical Gardens, where two particularly fine young have been

reared during the past summer; and some more may be seen

•sitting at present. They are charmingly tame pets. We brought

one away from the island, a tiny young one, and reared it on the

yacht. It gave me much pleasure and although it felt the ex-

treme damp heat of the Indian Ocean, throve well, and is now to

be seen in the Gardens, where it is just about to moult into

adult plumage, being about ten months old. This young Pen-

quin, when on the yacht, used to run about the deck with two

Sacred Ibises, which it was really quite fond of, but on occasions

when in a playful mood, it used to turn on them suddenly, seize

-one with its beak, hold on, and give it a good beating with one

of its flippers, a comical proceeding which used to take place

nearly every evening. The Penguin cunningly stalked the Ibises,

who always knew quite well they were being stalked.


These Ibises, the " Sacred Ibis," Ibis csthiopica, we took

from the nest, the latter being one of a colony which was

attached to a large colony of Cape Cormorants, Pkalacrocorax

capeusis. The Ibises were the shyest birds on the island, as they

are treated as vermin, having the reputation of robbing the^old^



