406 The King Penguin. 



The different species have very different modes of making 

 their nests and incubating. Of one species, the jackass 

 penguin, breeding in the Falkland Islands, situated in 

 51° south latitude, Captain C. C. Abbott writes: "Thou- 

 sands visit the land in October, to burrow in the soil and 

 deposit their two white eggs in the deep hole that they have 

 excavated." He observes that the habits of these animals are 

 affected by the proximity of man, as at places remote from set- 

 tlements the holes are comparatively shallow, but near to human 

 habitations they are much deeper, so as to prevent the eggs 

 being taken. 



This species is described as walking upright, except when 

 frightened and hard pressed, when it loses its balance, and 

 falls forward, employing its wings as legs in escaping through 

 the tussacs, as described by Mr. C. Darwin. 



Another species, Eudyptes papua, the gentoo penguin, 

 forms regular rookeries, or perhaps they may be more cor- * 

 rectly termed penguineries, sometimes situated even miles 

 from the shore, and far removed from salt water. Leading to 

 these are regular paths, along which detachments of twenty 

 or thirty birds may be seen marching at a time. No particular 

 nest is formed, but the eggs laid by each bird are placed as 

 closely together as the animals can stand. 



A third species, common in the Falkland Islands, is 

 known as the rock-hopper. It lays during the first week in 

 November, on the cliffy slopes near the fresh-water streams, 

 although, like the gentoo, it is constantly passing to and from 

 the sea. The breeding-places are sometimes of as great an 

 extent as 500 yards by 50, the eggs being placed so close 

 together that it is impossible to walk without treading on 

 them. Amid the multiplicity of nests and eggs, it is almost 

 impossible to imagine how the birds can find their own nests, 

 after having once been driven off. Yet they appear to do this 

 without difficulty, each walking straight back to its own nest, 

 and placing the eggs between its legs with the utmost care, so 

 as to bring them both in contact with a bare space in the 

 centre of the lower part of the body ; the male, when not fishing, 

 standing up alongside of the female. 



Cormorants are described as breeding close to the penguins, 

 both species associating in harmony. 



Not so, however, the predaceous skua gull, that watches for 

 an unprotected nest, and destroys the eggs or young, in the 

 absence of the parents. 



Having described the habits of these birds, as existing in a 

 state of nature, I am desirous of saying a few words as to 

 their extraordinary structure, anclits correlation to their peculiar 

 mode of life. 



