MURPHY : PEXGUIXS OF SOUTH GEORGIA. IO5 
several laii(liiii;s in Jainiar\-, 1775, and James Weddell, \-isitin>j; Sciuth 
Georgia in 1SJ3, wrote the following quaint accnuiit, which, in the light 
of recent discover},-, has become clas,sic ; 
Of the bird tribe, the king penguin is the most worthy of notice. The penguins 
are of a very gregarious nature. They go in large flocks along the shore, erect, and 
with a waddling gait. When seen through a hazy atmosphere, they may be not 
inaptl}- mistaken for a body of men. 
In pride, these birds are perhaps not surpassed even by the peacock, to which in 
beauty of plumage they are indeed very little inferior, — as may be seen in our principal 
museums. During the time of moulting, they seem to repel each other with disgust, 
on account of the ragged state of their coats ; but as they arrive at the maximum of 
splendor they re-assemble, and no one who has not completed his plumage is allowed 
to enter the community. Their frequently looking down their front and sides in order 
to contemplate the perfection of their exterior brilliancy, ami to remove anv speck 
which might sully it, is truly amusing to an observer. 
.About the beginning of January they pair, and lay their eggs. During the time 
of hatching, the male is remarkably assiduous, so that when the hen has occasion to 
go off to feed and wash, the egg is transported to him, which is done by placing their 
toes together and rolling it from the one to the other, using their beaks to place it 
properly. As they have no nest, it is to be remarked, that the egg is carried between 
the tail and legs, w^here the female, in particular, ha,s a cavity for the purpose. 
The hen keeps charge of her young nearly a twelvemonth, during which time 
they change and complete their plumage ; and in teaching them to swim, the mother 
has frequently to use some artifice ; for when the young one refuses to take the water, 
she entices it to the side of a rock, and cunningly pushes it in, and this is repeated 
until it takes the sea of its own accord. 
The present great reduction in the numbers of the king penguin has 
been cau.sed undoubtedly by human depredations, in jiart by the foraging 
raids of sealers and whalers, but perhaps in an even larger measure b\- 
traders in penguin oil. Regarding this last class, Klutschak, who visited 
South Georgia on an American sealing schooner in 1877, wrote : 
Human greed has been the cause of great persecution of these creatures. I am 
told (although personally I cannot vouch for it) that oil made from penguin fat was 
formerly utilized in tanning leather, and that vessels came for the purpose of taking 
these birds in huge numbers in order to extract the oil. This commodity, which must 
always have been expensive, has now been superseded by cheaper and perhaps better 
chemical preparations, hence the destruction of the penguins has ceased. Proof that 
they were slaughtered in former times, however, may be seen along the whole north- 
ern and northeastern coasts where the small iron try-pots, always arranged in pairs, 
still lie about. .At French Harbor* parts of a French penguin-hunting ship, which 
was wrecked in this labyrinth of reefs, may still be seen. (Translation ). 
