THE PENGUINS 271 



the cock birds, which have hitherto been in attendance upon the 

 hens, leave them and go out to sea. There they remain for about 

 a week, no doubt enjoying themselves, for when they come back 

 they are exceedingly fat. 



After the young are hatched out, the cocks take charge of them 

 for a time, while the hens in their turn go out to sea. They do not 

 stay for so long as their partners, and are soon back at their nests, 

 bearing in their beaks and throats a large supply of food for their 

 hungry little ones. When the young penguin wishes to eat, it 

 places its beak within that of its mother, and takes as much as it 

 needs of the nourishment which she has provided for it. 



On Macquarie's Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, penguins 

 are very numerous, although a great many are captured and killed 

 and boiled down into soup. A well-known traveller estimated 

 that in one settlement alone there could scarcely be less than 

 eighty thousand of these birds, about one-half of which were 

 always at sea. On their way to and from the water they always 

 travel by the same narrow paths, which in time are worn quite 

 smooth by the constant traffic of so many feet. 



A traveller who was shipwrecked upon an island in the South 

 Seas tells us that a penguin, when sitting upon her eggs, is not 

 allowed by her companions to leave them, even for a few minutes. 

 "Woe betide any unfortunate hen", he says, "who dared to leave its 

 own nest to go a short walk ; for no sooner was it noticed, than all 

 the neighbours raised a cry of anger and horror, and prepared to 

 give the delinquent an unmerciful pecking as it wended its way 

 through the thick ranks of its comrades. If it returned to its 

 lord and master, the tune was immediately changed from discor- 

 dant howls and croaks to a more musical tone of thanksgiving and 

 rejoicing." 



