Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-11

~ blackbirds. or ~>rooks in
England with the breed
ing haunts Of highly organized mammal has
provoked no end Of comment, but the same
men who, growing up on the farm in the old
country and familiar with the shadows Of q
rookery there, went TO sea with Capt Cook 8
little over q century ago and these men when
they Jaw the seals swarming on desolate islands
l. the antarctic called to mind nothing that
resembled the sight so much as the focking Of
countless birds in to roost q rookery at
home; so this name became fastened to the seals
wherever they hauled out IN great numbers
and to the immense congregation Of penguins,
tn 'rockhOppers' Of Jack Tar, which he saw
during the last century for the first time.
On many of the antarctic islands when they
were first discovered by civilized man the fur
seals and the pengrjns were near neighbors dur
ing the season of reproduction; they came out
from the water, in which they were alert and
active, on to the land, on which they were con-
strained and fairly helpless; but come out they
must, and come out they did in multitudes
that astonished the eyes Of man when first laid
on them.
THEY CANNOT FIJI.
The penguins Spheniscomorphe) cannot fly
from any danger on land nor can they run like
the ostrich They are simply droll, grave wad-
dlers until they touch the water Then they
are OF like a fash under water, for their useless
wings are the finest fins. and they literally swim
like fishes with them. They are confined to the
southern hemisphere, and to the most lonesome
and desolGte regions Of that area. naturally,
since they are so helpless on land which thew
must visit regularly TO reproduce their kind.
Their plumage is harsh and oily and they do
not look unlike our northern loon or diver (Co-
lyrnbus at least, several Of the thirteen species
do which make up the penguin family. They
occupy In the antarctic relatively the same
place that our auks (Alcide) do in the arctic,
but they range up high as the equator,
though the greater number are found below
south latitude % degrees.
The most singular feature connected with this
family Of birds is the odd coincidence Of their
mails they repair to the land in immense num-
beers, where the isolation. the drainage and the
temperature is as the seals elect. There they
spread themselves over the face Of acres and
acres OF ground reaching inland sometimes q
thousand yards from the sea beach
These rockbopper rookeries are designed
with great order and reguIarity-they are fire.
.quently the resort Of several different species,
but the ground Is so laid off that the town or
.'cauap" Of one kind is never confused with that
of the other. These "camps" are often extensive
enough to cover q space Of twenty or thirty
acres; but town" that embraces four or five
acres Is a very lively one and about the usual
thing.
The penguins lay this ground out In several
squares. with tolerably straight streets, the
squares occupied BIZ the nesting birds and the
streets by those which are coming and going
from the sea. Sailors delight in telling Of the
perfect regularity of the lives Of a penguin
town, and declare that a surveyor Of our own
kind could not get il into greater regularity.
MARCH LIKE SOLDIERS.
The marching and countermarching Of the
rockhoppers as they come and go from the
rooksry Is said to resemble the maneuvers Of
our soldiers on pal sde. The gravity. the rigid
ity Of the upright backs and necks the stiffness
OF the useless wings and the frmness Of their
footing make the resemblance quite suggestive
Their erect attitude and blush black backs con-
trust so strongly with their white bellies and
Threats that one old English navigator declared
that they "resenbled so many children at a dis
lance with white bibs."
The Penguins come out on to these rookery
grounds for the sole purpose OF moulting lay
ing their eggs and Matching them: thew Law
single one, large acuminate or pear shaped egg
and strsddle IL, making no nest or suggestion Of
one, but night on the bare ground the bird
squats over 1t. sitting perfectly erect without
leaving its charge for a moment day or night.
until the three weeks time of incubation closes;
IL the mother does leave her egg il will be
stolen or approx rated by another penguin and
she Will not be able to relocate her property: SO
IL appears that the male bird regularly goes to
which keeps her in good Condition sincs ~,
sailors say thai a sitting rockbopper il sIv. va
the latest
These Gowns" camps or rookeries of
these birds have aIxay. provsd 10 he ~ ,b.
greatest f.scipation 10 ,nr ssiIors and whals-s
who have yovaoe5 in ,be a,,srctic ~ ar,
b.v. haa, - sT9r..-ia.;,-.. - - ao 'ney
uraIist who ha. hal The ooo5 ,,r,rns 80 10,
them Thoss =, -, rsWI.S -. sN
been the most accessible and have therefore At
are given nv tha GA n,,,rs "n ' \
snd sn.nisb r.y;sa,ors =, $3.50, n..
-h;ch yhs.~ .,-.n. 81, VI lle queer 'snE
'o. ~nofoeo 'nem-
not AFRAID OF MAN.
These odd "Nanchoss." a. the French called
them. received those fr,t rhi.a ma, i,., q,
thsy receive rs TODAY; received them witbou,
irving the least evidence Of alarm and b.r5Iv
looking up At them they strobe in after step
ping ashore from their boats at the rookery
margin In some OF the camps there would be