Mi’RPHv : 
PI'NC'.l’IXS Ol' SOUTH (U'.ORGIA. 
U7 
at the approach (h the l:>arkiii^‘ do^' the>' invaria!)ly res])oiided not h\' 
taking to the water, where the\' would ha\'e been rid iiuniediatel y of tlie 
tormentor, l)ut l)y deliberate! \’ running' up the beach, heading' for the 
nearest bank or hillside, bb'en after the do^' had .seized a ])en^uin b\' its 
bristly tail and had swuii^' it round and round merely for the fun of 
teasing, the j)oor dazed victim would .still ])ersi.st in .scani])ering awa\’ from 
the water. I my.self often found that the sure.st wa\' to keej) ])enguins 
ashore was to try to drive them into the .sea. At Cumberland Bay, 
however, where .several hundred whalemen have dwelt for a number of 
years, .some of the ])enguins have adapted them.selves to the new con- 
ditions, and I .saw birds in the neighborhood of the whaling .station take 
promptly to the water when they were chased.* Klutschak also cites an 
instance in which the johnny penguins had ]wofited ver}' quickly by 
bitter experience. He writes : 
In .spite of their ingenuousness, the penguins have also much cunning as the 
following episode will demonstrate. These birds usually lay their eggs among patches 
of sparse grass at an elevation of several hundred feet above the sea. Our Portuguese 
sailors, tiring of the ship’s fare, climbed a hill one evening, drove awa}- the penguins, 
and gathered up all the eggs that they could find. At a later date they repeated 
the raid, but, trying it a third time, they found neither eggs nor birds. Then for 
several days no penguin was seen. But one morning our attention was called to some 
white s]:>ecks moving down the abrupt slope of a mountain toward the sea. The 
.specks proved to be our penguins descending for their bath. After several hours 
they climbed up again to their new village where they had found security for them- 
.selves and their eggs, for our Cape Verders, as much as they would have liked another 
feast, were too lazy to attempt the difficult ascent. (Translation). 
The antiquity of the hill-climbing instinct among the johnny penguins 
of South Georgia is attested by a strange and romantic ]dienomenon, 
namely that the ])enguins go back to the heights to die. In a hollow at 
the summit of the coa.st range .south of the Bay of Lsles lies a clear lake 
on a bed of ice-cracked .stones. This transparent pool, formed entirely of 
snow-water, with a maximum de])th of three or four meters, is a penguin 
graveyard. In January, 1913, I found its bottom thickly .strewn with 
the bodies of ])enguins which had outlived the ])erils of the .sea and had 
a])])arentl\- acconqfiished the rare feat among wild animals of dying a 
natural death. The\- lay b\' .scores all over the .ston_\- bed of the i)ool, 
mo.stly on their backs with ])inions outstretched, their brea.sts reflecting 
gleams of white from the dee])er water. Safe from .sea leopards in 
the ocean and from skuas ashore, they took their last rest, hor months, 
* Sliarpc wnte.s of /'. pafuia at Kcru:m.'lcn : " When they hccanic accnsloimd to heins^ chased hy 
men, tlie penguins acquired the habit of betaking themselves to the water at the lust alarm." 
