S7o
Place an»
Manners.
P I N G U I N.
This inhabits the Straits of Magclbaen, Staaten Land, Terra del
Fuego, and FalklandIJles, and is a very numerous fpecies; often feen.
by thoulands, retiring of nights to the higheft parts of the iflands
to pafs the night. The voice not unlike the braying of an Afs.
Is not a timid bird, for it will fcarcely get out of the way of any
one ; but, inftead of it, will frequently attack and bite a perfon by
the legs fo as to fetch blood. Thefe were killed by the failors
of Capt. Cook’s Ihips by hundreds, with fticks, and were found not
unpalatable as food, though thought to have a muiky tafte : the
way they were liked belt was in a ragout. They often mix with
the Sea Wolves, among the rujhes, burrowing in holes like a Fox,
When they fwim, only the neck and fhoulders appear out of the
water, and they advance with fuch agility, that no fijh feems able
to follow them : if they meet with any obftacle, leap four or
five feet out of the water, and dipping into it again, continue
their route.
This is probably the fpecies that Penrtfe alludes to, of which
he fays, the chief curiofity is the laying their eggs; this they do
in colleftive bodies, reforting in incredible numbers to certain
fpots, which their long relidence has freed from grafs, and to
which were given the name of towns*. “ Here,” fays he,
“ during the breeding feafon, we were prefented with a fight
which conveyed a malt dreary, and I may fay awful idea of the
defertion of thefe iflands by the human fpecies :— a general ftill-
nefs prevailed in thefe towns •, and whenever we took our walks
* He obferves, that they compofed the nefts of mud, a foot in height, and
placed as near one another as may be.— It is pollible that they may have different
ways of nefting,'according to the places they inhabit; or perhaps the
manners of this may be blended with thofe of another.
among
among them, in order to provide ourfelves with eggs, we were
regarded indeed with fide-long glances, but we carried no terror
with us.
“ The eggs are rather larger than thofe of a Goofe, and laid
in pairs. When we took them once, and fometimes twice in a
feafon, they were as often replaced by the birds; but prudence
would not permit us to plunder too far, left a future fupply in the
next year’s brood might be prevented.” They lay fome time in
November, driving away the Albatroffes, which have hatched
their young in turn before them. The eggs were thought palatable
food, and were preferved good for three or four months.
Aptenodytes torquata, Comment at. Gott. iii- p. 146.
Le Manchot a collier de la Nouv. Guinee, Son• Voy. p. 181 • t. 114*
T R I F L E lefs than the Papuan Pinguin: length eighteen
inches. Bill falhioned fomewhat like that of the Patagonian
Pinguin, and black: irides black: the eye furrounded with a
bare lkin of a blood-colour, in fhape oval,, and three times as
large as the eye itfelf: the head, throat, hind part of the neck,
and fides, back, wings, and tail, black: fore part of the neck,
breaft, belly, and thighs, white, extending round the neck, where
the white begins, like a collar, except that it does not quite
meet at the back part: legs black.
Inhabits New Guinea. Seen alfo by Dr. Forfter near Kerguelen’s
Land; and again on two ifles adjoining to the ifland of
South Georgia.
4 D a Phaeton