"And not only do they lay the ground out into squares, but they level it off and pick up all the stones and shells lying around, so that it is as smooth as a lawn. Then the birds go in pairs, and each pair picks out a place for a nest; it isn't a nest at all, but simply a spot on the ground. The hen lays one egg, and only one; the male bird brings her food from the sea, or if she wishes occasionally to have a swim he sits on the egg during her absence. He takes such good care of her that she is always plump and fat, and for this reason the penguins are sought and killed during their breeding season. [Illustration: THE PENGUIN.] "They walk up and down the streets like soldiers, standing erect all the time, and waddling along on their feet. The fun of the thing is that they divide themselves off into classes, according to their plumage and also according to the stages of their incubation; one class never disturbs another, but whether they keep order without the aid of a policeman or not I am unable to say." Fred asked how large the ordinary penguin is. "There are several varieties of these birds," said his informant, "the largest being the Emperor Penguin, which weighs twenty-five or thirty pounds, and I have known them to tip the scale at very nearly forty. The old birds are so tough and fishy that a dog won't touch them, but the chickens are good eating. I have tried the eggs, but didn't like 'em, as they resembled a hen's egg cooked in lamp-oil. Penguins only go on shore during the breeding season; for the rest of the time they live in the water, and some varieties of them are frequently found on or near cakes of ice two or three hundred miles from land." While this strange bird of the southern hemisphere was under discussion the steamer passed between the two capes we have mentioned, and entered Possession Bay; then she passed through the First Narrows, where the cliffs are not more than two miles apart. On the right was Patagonia; on the left lay the island of Tierra del Fuego, 'Land of Fire,' presenting an aspect quite as forbidding as that of the mainland of the continent. Desolation everywhere, and a leaden sky that threatened wind and rain. [Illustration: THE HOME OF THE SEA-BIRDS.] From the First Narrows, which are about nine miles long, they opened out into a broader stretch of water known as Philip's Bay, and then came to the Second Narrows and to Elisabeth Island. Wild birds were numerous, and in some places the shores were covered with them; in the narrows the water all around the steamer was alive with gulls, and a dozen other varieties of sea-fowl. Among them Fred recognized the shag, coot, and cormorant. The gentleman who had told him about the penguins pointed out a settlement of those birds on the shore, but too far away to enable them to see much of it. [Illustration: THE CORMORANT.]