404 The King Penguin. 



" Outspecding the shark 

 And the sword-fish dark, 



Under the ocean foam ; 

 And up through the rifts 

 Of the rocky cliffs, 



They pass to their Dorian home." 



In the water but little is known of their movements, as the 

 opportunities of observing them have necessarily been very- 

 limited. On land, however, their movements and mode of life 

 are more open to investigation, and from the singularity alike 

 of their structure and habits, they have attracted much atten- 

 tion from all those naturalists who have visited high latitudes 

 in the southern seas. Thus Mr. Gr. Bennett describes a colony of 

 one species of these birds as existing at Macquarie Island, in the 

 South Pacific, and covering an extent of thirty or forty acres. 

 Their number was immense, many thousand birds constantly 

 passing to and from the sea. He states : ' ' They are arranged 

 when on shore in as compact and in as regular ranks as a 

 regiment of soldiers. The females hatch the eggs by keeping 

 them between their thighs, and if approached during the time 

 of incubation, move away, carrying the eggs with them. At 

 this time the male goes to sea and collects food for the female, 

 which becomes very fat. After the young is hatched, both 

 parents go to sea and bring home food for it, and it soon 

 becomes so fat as to be scarcely able to walk, the old birds 

 getting very thin. They sit upright on their roosting places, 

 and walk in the erect position till they arrive at the beach, 

 when they throw themselves on their breasts to encounter the 

 heavy seas met with at the landing place." 



Like almost all birds they are valiant in the defence of 

 their eggs and young. The late Admiral Fitzroy, who com- 

 manded the exploring expedition in H.M.S. Beagle, speaking 

 of the multitude of penguins in the thick rushy grass " tussac" 

 •of the shore of Noir Island, states ' ( they were very valiant in 

 self defence, and ran open-mouthed by dozens at any one who 

 invaded their territory, little knowing how sopn a stick would 

 scatter them on the ground. The young were good eating, but 

 the old were dark and tough when cooked. The manner in 

 which they feed their young is curious and amusing. The old 

 bird gets on a little eminence, and makes a great noise between 

 braying and quacking, holding its head up in the air as if it 

 were haranguing the penguinery, while the young one stands 

 close to it, but a little lower ; the old bird having continued its 

 clatter for about a minute, puts its head down and opens its 

 mouth widely, into which the young one thrusts its beak, and 

 then appears to suck from the throat of its mother for a 

 minute or two, after which the clatter is repeated, and the 



