520 IMPENNBS CATABEHACTES 



sandy islands like Dassen, short, wide burrows are usually con- 

 structed about a foot or 18 inches deep and about 6 inches in 

 diameter ; these are scraped out by the birds themselves with their 

 hind feet, and are, as often as not, placed under the shelter of a low 

 bush or tuft of grass. Where the ground is rocky and excavation is 

 not possible, some niche or corner among the shore-boulders is 

 selected and the eggs are laid more or less in the open ; a few bits 

 of rag or seaweed or rubbish are sometimes made use of to con- 

 struct the nest, but it is never a very elaborate structure. 



The eggs are usually two in number, though sometimes only one, 

 and sometimes three are to be found. They are chalky in texture 

 and are pure white with a faint tinge of bluish, but generally become 

 a good deal stained and soiled before being hatched. In shape they 

 are rounded ovals slightly pointed at one end, measuring on an 

 average 2-65 x 2'0. 



The following are the principal islands on which the Penguins 

 breed, beginning in the north on the west coast — Hollams Bird 

 Island, Mercury, Ichaboe, Possession and Halifax, off the coast of 

 German South-west Africa; Marcus, Jutten, Dassen, off the west 

 coast of the Colony, north of Table Bay ; Dyer's Isle, off the Caledon 

 Coast, and St. Croix in Algoa Bay. 



From most of the above-mentioned islands the eggs are regu- 

 larly collected during the early part of the breeding season by the 

 employes of the Colonial Government, to whom the islands all 

 belong, and are sent to Cape Town and other large centres, where 

 they are largely purchased and eaten, chiefly by Malays and other 

 coloured people. In 1902 469,400 eggs were gathered, of which 

 more than three quarters, 325,000, came from Dassen Island alone ; 

 these were valued at £1,681. In the year previous the returns were 

 even greater; 638,000 eggs, valued at £1,969, were obtained. 



The Penguin lives very well in captivity, especially if it can 

 be supplied with living fishes. In the Paris Jardin d'Acolimatation it 

 has even bred, each pair occupying a wooden dog-kennel and 

 successfully hatching off a number of young ones. 



Genus II. CATARRRACTES. 



Type. 

 Catarrhactes, Briss., Orn. vi, p. 102 (1760) C. chrysocome. 



Bill short, small, conical and smooth; the culminicorn separated 

 from the latericorn by a strongly-marked groove, in which are 

 situated the slit-like nostrils ; a crest of elongate feathers on the 



