May, x9o 7 THE BIRD ISLANDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 75 of the bill and a green iris. Like the Penguin the Cormorant is important com- mercially as froin it is yearly derived large quantities of guano which together with the Penguin's eggs yields a considerable revenue to the Cape Government. The guano is scooped up from the rocks on which the Duikers sit and also from the nests and surrounding ground after the breeding season is over. The breeding season for the Duikers is from December to July, though as in the case of the Penguins a few can be found nesting at other times of the year. The nests are placed as a rule on the ground and built up of sticks and twigs of the low plants and grasse?s which grow on the islands. There is little or no lining. The eggs, usually four in number, are of the Cormorant type, oval and pale blue with a chalky white covering. They measure about 2.15xl.35 inches. Froin this bird and froin the Malagas (.b?da caponsis). which however does not usually resort to the same islands as the Duiker, froin 4000 to 5000 tons of BLACK-ItOOTED PENGUINS ON NESTS IN A CLEFT OF THE ROCKS guano are obtained every year by the Cape Government and sold to the farmers at about $30.00 a ton, approximately the cost price. I visited one ofthebreeding places of the Malagas in September, 1903. The Island itself is called Malagas Island, and is situated at the entrance to the harbour of Saldanha Bay, some seventy miles north of Cape Town. The island is quite a small one, only about half a mile across and is surrounded by low rocks and cliffs from ten to twenty feet in height so that landing was by no means easy. I found the island, which was fairly flat, literally carpeted by the birds sitting so close to one another as to be in many cases actually touching each other. Here the nests consist of nothing but little mounds of inud and guano with a slight de- pression at the top, while everywhere between the nests the ground was bare and white with a deposit of excrement. Only one egg is laid, and on this the bird sits very closely, covering it with its large webbed feet so that it becomes very dirty long before incubation is completed.
