File:A handbook of the birds of Tasmania and its dependencies (1910) (14563500467).jpg

Identifier: handbookofbirdso00litt (find matches)
Title: A handbook of the birds of Tasmania and its dependencies
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Littler, Frank Mervyn
Subjects: Birds -- Australia Tasmania
Publisher: Launceston, Tasmania : F.M. Littler
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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me spot on the other side of the rookerj. In thepath only a few droves of Penguins on their way to and from thewater are encountered, and these stampede out of your way intothe side alleys. Now you are, the instant you leave the road, onthe actual breeding ground. The nests are placed so thicklythat you cannot help treading on eggs and young birds at almostevery step. A parent bird sits on each nest, with its sharp beakerect and open readj to bite, 3elling savagely Caa, caa, urr, urr,its red eye gleaming and its plumes at half-cock and quiveringwith rage. No sooner are your legs within reach than they arefuriously bitten, often by two or three birds at once—that is, ifyou have not got on strong leather gaiters, as on the first occasionof visiting a rookery you probably have not. At first you try toavoid the nests, but soon find that is impossible; then, maddenedalmost by the pain, stench, and noise, you have recoui-se tobrutality. Thump, thump, goes your stick, and at each blow goes
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BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 209 a bird. Thud, thud, you hear from the men behind as thej kickthe birds right and left off the nests; and so you go on for a bit—thump and smash, whack, thud, Caa, caa, urr, urr, and thepath behind you is strewed with the dead and dying and bleeding.But you make miserably slow progress, and, woi-ried to death,at last resort to the expedient of stampeding as far as your breathwill cany you. You put down your head and make a rush throughthe grass, treading on old and young haphazard, and rushing onbefore they have time to bite. The air is close in the rookery, and the sun hot above; and,out of breath and running with perspiration, you come across amass of rock fallen from the cliff above, and sticking up in therookery; this you hail as a city of refuge. You hammer off ithurriedly half a dozen Penguins who are sunning themselvesthere and are on the look-out, and, mounting on the top, take outyour handkerchief to wipe off the perspiration, and rest awhile,and see i

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