Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1884 — Penguins on the Falkland Islands. [ARTICLE]

Penguins on the Falkland Islands.

The breeding-grounds or “rookeries" of the penguins are generally situated in the shelter of some land-locked bay or. break in the line of steep and rugged cliffs; and often occupy several acres, which are laid out, leveled, and divided into squares with intervening streets, the whole as if done at the dictation of a surveyor. Along these streets the penguins gravely waddle on their way to and from the water, presenting the. appearance of squads of awkward recruits, or a still mere striking likeness, as" has been often remarked, to troops of little children toddling hlong in their white pinafores. They build no nests; but lay a single egg in, some selected spot, the incubation being equally shared by male and female. Although so closely allied to the feathered kind, they ard unable to fly, nature having only furnished them'with short, stumpy apologies for wings, resembling the flippers of a turtle, by means of which they are enabled to attain prodigious speed, when diving under water in pursuit of fish for food. Penguins, as well as seals, are doubly provided against the cold of the high latitudes which tljey frequent, by a layer of fat immediately inside the skin, which is also the depository, of the oil extracted by the fishermen. In landing to attack and slaughter them in their rookeries with clubs and boat-stretchers, stealthy precautions are quite unnecessary, the poor dumb creatures looking on in a state of indifferent stupidity, without making any attempt to escape, while their companions are being knocked on the head all around them. Seal hunting, or “fishing,” as it is' usually termed, on the contrary, requires great skill and patience. Seal, are gregarious as well as polygamous, and when they forsake the open seas for their breeding places on shore are very shy of intrusion, and take great care to insure the safety of their retirement, particularly in localities which have been previously visited by human beings. They invariably post sentinel* on every commanding point, so that it is only by patient waiting and under cover of night the hunters are enabled to elude their vigilance and surprise them.— Chamber»' Journal.