ng rocks,
living apparently on their fat, which is found to have disappeared
when at last they take to the sea. They come and go with remarkable
regularity, being first seen about the middle of October, and leaving
during the first week of May. The same rookeries are occupied year after
year, and the departure of the birds adds to the general desolation
during the winter months.

Their destination on leaving the land is still a mystery. Although they
are never seen, it is conjectured that they spend the winter at
sea. Their natural enemy in the waters round Macquarie Island is the
sea-leopard, and the stomachs of all specimens of this animal taken by
us during the penguin season contained feathers.

The presence of numerous bones just at the rear of the Shack pointed to
the fact that here must have been at one time the site of a King penguin
rookery. As many of our potatoes and onions were sprouting in the
bags, I determined to dig a portion of this area and plant the most
"progressive" of these vegetables. The sandy soil did not appear to
contain much nutriment, but I thought that something might be gained by
giving it a trial.

On the night of February 2, Sawyer reported that he had heard the
Wellington wireless operator calling Suva station, but, as no further
signals were heard from anywhere, he was inclined to the idea that it
was the experience of a "freak night." In explanation of this term, I
may say that it is used in reference to nights on which the atmospheric
conditions are abnormally favourable for wireless work.

The news was particularly encouraging, and for the next few days we were
on the tip-toe of expectation.

In the early morning of the 5th a howling gale sprang up and, increasing
in force as the day wore on, rendered work impossible. A tremendous sea
worked up, and the ocean for a distance of a mile from shore was simply
a seething boil of foam. Huge waves dashed on shore, running yards
beyond the usual marks, and threatening to sweep across the isthmus.
Masses of tangled kelp, torn from the outlying rocks, washed backwards
and forwards in the surf or were carried high up among the tussocks. The
configuration of the shingly beach changed while one looked at it. The
tops of the waves could be seen flying over Anchor Rock, seventy feet
high, and spray was blowing right across the isthmus.

On the advice of the sealers we had shifted our stores farther back from
the beach and it was just as wel