28 Vallentin, Notes on the Falkland Islands. 



inhabitants, and they seem to be of opinion that it is the 

 first year's egg of a Rockhopper. This singular e.^^ is 

 almost spherical in shape. The ground colour is dark- 

 green, and the whole surface uniformly speckled with 

 white spots. This single ^^^ measures 45 mm. in length, 

 by 40 mm. in width. 



Pygosceles taeniata, "Gentoo." There is a fairly large 

 rookery of this species of Penguin placed not far from 

 Port William, and within easy distance of Stanley. 

 During my residence in the Falklands, I paid several 

 visits to this nesting-place, and was able to study these 

 birds fairly closely. Fortunately during my first visit the 

 day was very fine, and the atmosphere exceptionally 

 clear ; so I was able to take some very instructive photo- 

 graphs during their breeding season. This rookery is 

 placed on a hill-side, and not far from its foot, and close 

 to a stream of running water. These birds did not all 

 nest together, but were roughly divided into three groups, 

 and separated by a space of about fifty yards ; each 

 section containing about the same number of birds. The 

 total number of Penguins present was about 1,200 couples. 

 I also noticed that they were not nesting in the same 

 place as they were three years ago, when I visited this 

 spot ; but had moved further inland along the sloping 

 ground, the most distant group of nests being about a 

 quarter of a mile from the shore. There was a well- 

 marked track made through the grass by the birds, 

 leading from the nests to the shore. 



The nests, like others of the same species, are very 

 roughly put together. A circular hole, averaging 8 inches 

 across and about 3 inches in depth, is scraped with the 

 feet in the peaty soil, in this are placed twigs gathered from 

 the nearest diddle-dee bushes, which grow in abundance 

 near the rookery. I noticed that all the twigs used in the 



