50 
FROM BERMUDAS TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
rafters, a tobacco pipe which had not been lighted for many months; on a shelf a few 
smoke-dried books, and on the floor tools, billets of firewood, and a saucepan. The sun 
looked pleasantly in at the little window in the gable-end. Half-an-hour after the above 
sketch was taken, the result of so much labour, the scene of so much manly endurance, was 
a heap of ashes. 
A short distance beyond the hut was the large “ rookery if one may use the term 
—of penguins, whose downy feathers helped to rest the wearied limbs of the exiles, and 
whose eggs were their principal means of sustaining life. The bird, which annually visits 
these islands for the sake of breeding, is the crested penguin, known to the naturalist under 
the name of Eudyptes chrysocoma, and we are indebted to the two brothers for close 
observations of an animal which there are 
but rare opportunities of seeing in its native 
haunts. It stands about eighteen inches high, 
and is white-breasted, the back being of a 
dark slaty grey. The bill is red, the eyes 
crimson, and a streak of yellow runs back¬ 
wards from each eye,, terminating on the side 
of the head in a narrow tuft of feathers, 
connected behind by a black tuft. The wings—unfit for flight, but powerful aids in swimming 
—when at rest, hang down droopingly like the empty sleeves of a dress coat; and this, in 
combination with the upright position, gives the bird a ludicrous resemblance to an old 
waiter dressed in second-hand garments. The feet are webbed, flat-toed, and black on 
the under surface. Frederick Stoltenhoff gives the following account of the habits of this 
remarkable denizen of the southern hemisphere. The language lacks that precision of style 
essential to the professed naturalist; but probably this account of the bird will be found most 
interesting in the observer’s own words :— 
“ The largest breeding-ground of bi-crested penguins is found on the beach at the north 
side of the island, and there are several smaller grounds in other parts. So far as I have 
learned, the bi-crested is the only description of penguin found on these islands. The males 
commenced to arrive in small numbers in the last week of July, first singly or in small 
bodies, and then in larger numbers j all in good condition, and very fat. They came ashore 
daily foi a fortnight, and then a couple of days intervened during which there appeared to be 
no arihals. After landing, the males first lay about the shore and tussock grass, asleep 
nearly all the time. They then commenced preparing nests for the females. As a rule, these 
nests were built with the decayed stalks of the tussock grass on the ground. The nests 
w r eie round in shape, and some of them reached as high as five or six inches—the generality 
being from two to three inches in height, and about a foot in diameter. Other birds were 
emplo)ed in sciaping a round hole in the ground about an inch deep and four or five inches 
in diameter. This was done by the male ; lying on its belly, scratching the ground with its 
strong feet, and then turning in all directions, a circular shape was given to the hole. After 
