“Oh, I know now,” declared Tom. “It’s a sheathbill, don’t you remember Cap’n Pem pointed them out to us at sea. Look, here’s the sheath on its bill.”
Satisfied at having solved the mystery of the strange sounds, and having identified the bird, the boys released the creature which immediately fluttered back to its nest, ruffling its feathers and croaking in such an indignant, offended way that the boys roared with laughter. Continuing down the hill, the boys approached the first of the great bird colony in the valley and found they were big, white Molly Mokes and another species of bird which they had not seen before.
“They’re some sort of albatrosses,” insisted Tom. “But they’re not like the others. They’re smaller and have bright yellow beaks and they’re much whiter.”
“Yes, and they’ve greeny-brown eyes instead of blue,” added Jim.
“I’ll bet I know what they are,” Tom announced “I’ve been thinking, and I remember reading about a kind of albatross called yellow-nosed. These have yellow noses so I’ll bet that’s what they are.”
It was a strange sensation for the boys to find themselves surrounded by countless thousands of the big, white birds which showed not the least fear, but pecked boldly at the boys’ garments as they picked their way among the nesting birds.
As they gained the farther side of the valley they came to a low, rocky ridge, and curious to see what lay beyond, they clambered up its side and found themselves once more in view of the sea.
“Look at those penguins!” cried Jim, as he caught sight of a great flock of the queer birds. “Gee, but they’re big fellows!”
“They’re not like the others,” replied Tom. “Say, we _are_ finding a lot of queer things to-day.”
“And those don’t look like sea elephants on the beach either,” said Jim. “They look smaller and different, somehow.”
“I believe you’re right,” agreed Tom. “Let’s go down and have a look.”
As they approached the creatures basking upon the shingle, the boys saw that they were indeed very different from the huge sea elephants, for they were much smaller, they lacked the long snouts and their bodies were darker in color and beautifully spotted.
“Don’t let’s go too near,” exclaimed Jim. “I don’t like their looks.”