296 
POPULAR HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
smallest appearance of vegetation^ but inconceivable myriads 
of penguins completely and densely covered tbe whole sur- 
face of the island^ along the ledges of the precipices^ and 
even to the summits of the hills^ attacking us vigorously as 
we waded through their ranks^ and pecking at us with their 
sharp beaks disputing possession; which^ together with 
their loud coarse notes_, and the insupportable stench from 
the deep bed of guano^ which had been forming for ages, 
and which may at some period be valuable to the agricul- 
turists of our Australasian colonies, made us glad to get 
away again^/^ 
The fearlessness of the penguins is a feature of their 
character, partly from natural stupidity and partly from the 
remote seas they inhabit being seldom visited. Sir James 
Clarke Eoss speaks of them as following the ships and an- 
swering the call of the sailors, who imitated their cry; and 
although they could not scramble over the ice so fast as our 
ships sailed past it, they made up for it when they got into 
the water, and we soon had quite a flock of them in our 
wake, playing about our vessel like so many porpoisesf." 
The Great Penguin {Aptenodytes Forsteriy G. E. Gray), 
* A Voyage of Discovery and Researcli in the Southern and Antarctic 
Oceans, 1839-43, vol. i. p. 189. f c. p. 179. 
