eat numbers for the purpose of breeding.
They stay longer than any other migrant, being absent only three months
during the depth of winter. Returning early in August, they do not start
nesting until the beginning of October. The nests, nicely made of grass
and plant leaves, are generally built on the terraces and slopes amongst
the hills. The ideal site, however, is a pleurophyllum flat adjoining a
penguin rookery. Two or three eggs of a brown or greenish-brown colour
with darker spots or blotches are laid about the end of October, and,
from this time till the chicks are reared, the parent exhibits much
annoyance at the presence of any person in the vicinity. They utter
shrill cries and swoop down continuously in an attempt to strike the
invader with their wings. Several of our party received black eyes as a
result of attacks by skuas.

The young grow rather quickly, and not much time elapses before they
leave the nest to stagger round and hide amongst the vegetation. The
parents fly down and disgorge food, which is immediately devoured by
the young ones. The skuas are bare-faced robbers and most rapacious,
harassing the penguins in particular. They steal the eggs and young of
the latter and devour a great number of prions--small birds which live
in holes in the ground. The skuas are web-footed, but are very rarely
seen in the water.

Towards the end of the month, Blake spent two days at Sandy Bay and then
returned to work up his results.

Hamilton, in order to get into close touch with another species of
penguin, stayed several days at "The Nuggets," two and a half miles down
the eastern coast. A creek flows into the sea at this point, and many
Royal penguin rookeries are established along its course.

Meanwhile, many improvements had been effected in the interior of the
Shack. Shelves lined the walls wherever it was convenient to have them,
and many perishable foodstuffs had been brought inside. Comfort, after
all, is but a relative matter, and, as far as we were concerned, it was
sufficient.

Our clothing was all that could be desired, with the exception, perhaps,
of the boots. In the equipment were included one pair of sea-boots, one
pair of raw hide kneeboots and two pairs of rawhide hunting boots. The
latter were not heavy enough, and soon showed the effect of travelling
from a water-logged surface to one of rock and vice versa. In fact, our
boots were very rarely dry on Macquarie Island.

An event of some