Oct.] 



A SOUTH SEA ROOKERY. 



53 



of this description, and never neglects an opportunity of robbing a 

 neighbour. Indeed, it often happens that when the period of incuba- 

 tion is terminated, the young brood will consist of three or four differ- 

 ent kinds of birds in one nest. This is strong circumstantial evidence 

 that the parent bird is not more honest than her neighbours. 



To stand at a little distance and observe the movements of the birds 

 in these rookeries, is not only amusing, but edifying, and even affect- 

 ing. The spectacle is truly worthy the contemplation of a philosophic 

 mind. You will see them marching round the encampment in the 

 outside path, or public promenade, in pairs, or in squads of four, six, 

 or eight, forcibly reminding you of officers and subalterns on a parade 

 day- At the same time, the camp, or rookery, is in continual motion ; 

 some penguins passing through the different paths, or alleys, on their 

 return from an aquatic excursion, eager to caress their mates after a 

 temporary absence ; while the latter are passing out, in their turn, in 

 quest of refreshment and recreation. At the same time, the air is 

 almost darkened by an immense number of the albatross hovering over 

 the rookery like a dense cloud, some continually lighting and meeting 

 their companions, while others are constantly rising and shaping their 

 course for the sea. 



To see these creatures of the ocean so faithfully discharge the 

 various duties assigned them by the great Creator ; to witness their 

 affectionate meetings after a short absence on their natural element ; 

 to observe their numerous little acts of tenderness and courtesy to each 

 other ; — all this, and much more that might be mentioned, is truly 

 interesting and affecting to the contemplative and sympathetic spectator. 

 I have observed them for hours together, and could not help thinking 

 that if there was only as much order, harmony, and genuine affection 

 between wedded pairs of the human race, as there is among these 

 feathered people, the connubial state would then indeed be " all that 

 we dream of heaven." A moral philosopher could not, perhaps, be 

 more usefully employed, for a few days, than in contemplating the 

 movements and operations of a South Sea rookery, and marking the 

 almost incredible order and regularity with which every thing is per- 

 formed. Such a spectator could not fail to confess, that so wonderful 

 an instinct must be " the Divinity which stirs within" them. 



October 23d. — The schooner Henry, Captain Johnson, who had been 

 vainly cruising for six weeks in search of the Aurora Islands,* returned 

 to New Island on Wednesday, the 23d. During his absence, Mr. 

 George Noble, second mate of the Henry, and the two men left with 

 him at New Island, had succeeded in gathering a sufficient quantity of 

 eggs to supply their schooner, and our men had not been inactive in 

 the same employment. These eggs, when packed in salt, will keep 

 good a long while, and are quite a luxury to those who have been con- 

 fined to salt provisions for any length of time. 



New Island, on the east side of which both vessels were now over- 

 hauled and refitted, is, with the exception of the Jasons, the most 

 westerly of the Falkland group, lying in long. 61° 20' W., while the 



* The history of these imaginary islands will be found on a subsequent page. 



4 



