Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1892 — A Penguin City. [ARTICLE]

A Penguin City.

During our recent cruise, writes a Falkland Island correspondent, we went ashore on a sequestered Island, to view what the captain called a “penguin city.” Sure enough, the whole Island, comprising perhaps fifty acres, was laid off in regular squares, by streets running at right angles, the lines straight and true as a surveyor could have drawn them. As is well known, penguins spend their Ilves on the water except during the breeding season, when they are obliged to seek the shore. You will hardly believe me, but it is nevertheless true, that the birds not only lay out their city in blocks, but pick up all the loose stones, till the whole place is as smooth as a 1 oard floor. Then they take possession, in couples, each pair selecting a home site—not to build a nest, but merely to preempt a particular spot on the bare grdund. The hen lays one egg, and only one, and during the time of incubation the male bird brings her food from the sea, or sits on the egg a while himself if she wants to go out and take a swim. But in this case, as in many others, virtue is not “its own exceeding great reward,” because the lady penguins grow so fat ano sleek under the good care of their faithful husbands that they are the more eagerly hunted at that particular season. The old birds arc too tough and fishy to be relished by man or beast, but the tender young matrons are in great demand, both for their oil and flesh. Even the eggs have an oily and fishy flavor, and taste as hens’ eggs might if cooked in kerosene. The penguin is by no means a handsome or graceful creature. He has wings, like any other bird, but they are altogether too short to fly with, though they may assist him somewhat in waddling over the ground. When in the water he has no use for wings, because his broad feet- wcbbdß like those of a duck, propel him rapidly. There are several varieties of them, the largest, called the “emjieror penguin,” weighing from twentyfive to forty pounds. It is funny to see a colony of these ungainly birds marching up and down the streets like soldiers, all the time standing erect and maintaining an air of great dignity and importance.