570 
PENGUIN. 
ing season, we were presented with a sight that 
conveyed a most dreary and, I may say, awful idea 
of the desertion of the islands by the human spe- 
cies : a general stillness prevailed in these towns ; 
and whenever we took our walks among them, in 
order to provide ourselves with eggs, we were re- 
garded, indeed, with side-long glances, but we car- 
ried no terror with us. 
“ The eggs are rather larger than those of a 
goose, and are laid in pairs. When we took them 
once, and sometimes twice, in a season, they were 
as often replaced by the birds ; but prudence would 
not permit us to plunder too far, lest a future sup- 
ply in the next year’s brood might be prevented.” 
We have already noticed that Mr. Penrose describes 
the nest as raised into a hillock about a foot high ; 
from which we must infer some peculiarity in the 
manners of that particular species, as the Patagonian 
penguin is said to nestle in the ground, and choose 
for that purpose a down, or sandy plain. “ The 
ground,” says Forster, “ is every where so much 
bored, that in walking a person often sinks up to 
the knees ; and if the penguin chance to be in her 
hole, she revenges herself on the passenger, by 
fastening on his legs, which she bites very close.” 
Notwithstanding these birds are so heavy and 
awkward upon land, they are sufficiently alert in 
the water, where they dive and continue under a 
long time, and when they rise again they dart 
up to the surface with prodigious swiftness. The 
shore is sometimes so completely covered with 
