duty. Mrs. Mackenzie evidently regards her husband's hobby with indulgence, 

 for he has been writing us charming and enthusiastic letters on oological subjects, 

 and is despatching a splendid contribution to the M. C. 0. cabinets. Mr. and 

 Mrs. Mackenzie are returning to Burma in November. 



Rowland H. Archer, Esq., Ryecroft, Lyndhurst, Victoria, Australia, is one 

 of the staunchest friends of the M. C. 0., although his unconquerable modesty 

 forbids our enumerating his many gifts. We are beholden to him for some of the 

 choicest numbers in our collection, especially of some of the rarer sea-birds. The 

 latest adventure to which he has confessed is climbing 136 feet up in a brown- 

 topped eucalyptus tree to retrieve a set of Sparrow Hawks {Accipiter cirrhoce- 

 phalus) eggs — only two, much to the climber's disgust. That's 68 feet per egg, 

 remember. But we have an added respect for Mr. Archer, as for any man who 

 will do his own climbing. 



R. S. Sutherland, Esq., F. Z. S., has recently been transferred from Puysegur 

 Point, Invercargill, New Zealand, to the Lighthouse, Cape Foulwind, Westport, 

 N. Z. We shall miss his sprightly accounts of happenings at Puysegur Point, es- 

 pecially of nesting Penguins; but we shall hope that Cape Foulwind yields treas- 

 ures of its own. 



A. W. Johnson, Esq., of Iquique, Chile, in a most interesting letter, dated 

 Feb. 10th, recalls the fact that he was born in Lake County, California, where his 

 father, having retired from business, devoted himself to the acquisition of a col- 

 lection (One of the world's best. — Ed.) of Golden Eagles' eggs. Mr. Johnson has 

 lived for the past ten years in northern Chile, where he is devoting himself to the 

 development of the nitrate industry. He finds the nitrate country one of the 

 most desolate places imaginable from the ornithological viewpoint; but since re- 

 moving to Iquique has had better fortune with the sea-birds, and has succeeded 

 in identifying forty-four species — among them the Giant Petrel {Ossifraga gigan- 

 tea); two species of Cormorants, a Gannet, Molina's Pelican (Pelecanus thagus), a 

 Penguin {Sphenlscus humboldti), and an Oyster-catcher, probably Haematopus 

 ater. Concerning the Penguins Mr. Johnson reports: 



"These birds nest in colonies of from 50 to 100 pairs, choosing for the pur- 

 pose spacious sea caves, always difficult of access. The floor of the cave is com- 

 posed of rounded pebbles and stones, so thickly covered over with a thick, slimy, 

 greasy mud that it is only with the greatest difficulty that one can keep his feet. 

 The eggs are dotted all over the floor (nearly always two in number, but occasion- 

 ally only one), sometimes almost completely buried in slime. They are large, 

 white in color, sometimes with a faint suggestion of pale blue. Two broods are 

 hatched in the year, one in July, the other in October. When first hatched the 

 young are quite helpless, but grow rapidly in size; they are covered with a thick 

 down which gives place to feathers only very gradually. Contrary to what we 

 might expect, the young show no inclination to enter the water, and do so only 

 when practically all the down has been shed. In October many of the July brood 

 may still be observed in the caves. 



"These Penguins make most interesting pets, becoming very tame and 

 following one about like a dog. They are fearful gluttons, and will stuff them- 

 selves with fish until they can hardly move. I once gave a tame Penguin ten 

 eight-inch fish, one after the other, and he only stopped asking for more when 

 the tail of the last fish was hanging out of his mouth." 



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