384 PINGUIN. 



out of the way of any one, but frequently attacks and bites a 

 person by the legs so as to fetch blood. These were killed by the 

 sailors of Captain Cook's ships in great numbers with sticks, and 

 found not unpalatable as food, but have a musky flavour ; often mix 

 with the sea wolves, among the rushes, burrowing in holes like a 

 fox; when they swim, only the neck and shoulders appear out of 

 the water, and they advance with such agility, that no fish seems 

 able to follow them ; if they meet with any obstacle, leap four or 

 five feet out of the water, and dipping into it again, continue their 

 route. — This is probably the species that Penrose alludes to; when 

 he says, the chief curiosity is the laying their eggs ; this they do in 

 collective bodies, resorting in incredible numbers to certain spots, 

 which their long residence has freed from grass, and to which were 

 given the name of Towns.* Here, says he, during the breeding 

 season, we were presented with a sight, which conveyed a most 

 dreary, and I may say awful idea of the desertion of these Islands 

 by the human species; a general stillness prevailed in these towns; 

 and whenever we took our walks among them, to provide ourselves 

 with eggs, we were regarded with side-long glances, but carried no 

 terror with us. 



The eggs exceed in size those of the Goose, and are laid in pairs ; 

 when taken once, and sometimes twice in the season, they were as 

 often replaced ; but prudence prevented going farther, lest a future 

 supply in next year's brood might be prevented ; they lay in Novem- 

 ber, driving away the x\lbatrosses, which have hatched their young 

 before them. The eggs were found palatable, and remained good 

 for three or four months. 



* The nests said to be composed of mud a foot in height, and placed as near one another 

 as may be. It is possible that they may have different ways of nesting, according to the 

 places they inhabit ; or perhaps, the manners of this may be blended with those of another 

 species. 



