The Galapagos Island Penguin



185



It was rather amusing to see the solicitude of the cock bird in going

into the shelter to see how his mate was going on. The mated birds,

and also the three odd birds which Mr. Mowbray said were of the same

sex, all seemed to get on very well together.


The Galapagos Islands are a small and very isolated group of

islands lying directly on the equator in the Pacific Ocean, many

hundreds of miles west of the South American coast.


These islands belong to the state of Ecuador, which seems to take

little notice of them except upon occasion to exploit the animal life.

The feature of these islands is the very unique and distinctive avifauna,

they are also the home of the well known giant tortoises and various

species of strange looking iguanas.


While none of the birds are brightly coloured, they form a wonderful

example of evolution. Darwin, a little over a hundred years ago, first

brought to the notice of the scientific world the striking example of

evolution in the Geospiza Finches which inhabit the various islands.

Since Darwin's days these islands have been the Mecca of the type

of scientist who thinks it far more important to have huge series of

skins in museums than to leave living species for posterity. Within

recent years expeditions have been working on the islands, one of

which took away as many as 8,000 bird skins. Each succeeding

expedition takes away more skins and to-day there is but a remnant

of the former bird life left. There is little doubt that unless something

is done, and done quickly, the unique bird life of the Galapagos Islands

will be altogether destroyed.


The penguins have, I understand, suffered severely, being the first

birds the so-called ornithologists met with, and being tame like the

rest of the land birds they soon find their way into the skin cabinets.

Mr. Mowbray tells me that this species is now restricted to one single

bay on Albermarle Island.


There is every chance that the little colony in Bermuda will breed

and increase, for not only have they ideal conditions and natural food,

but they have a climate which is not so very different from their own

original home.



