SINGULAR FIGHT WITH A PENGUIN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 30, 4 February 1880, Page 2

SINGULAR FIGHT WITH A PENGUIN.

v Captain 1 \Fair l child's penguins i v on board the Hinemoa-aro making themselves a, name ; they are also inspiring a degre,e of reVpect "which from their somewhat ludicrous appearance they seemed unlikely to win. But though small of size, and grotesque of aspect, their prowess is • immense, and their strength of beak and wing quite remarkable, while -they are not; slow to pick a quarrel with anybody who seems inplined to be too familiar. Yesterday, one. managed to get out of the enclosure where they are kept, on to the main deck, where he began to execute a sort of eccentric and complicated dance. Captain. Fairchild sent a boy to. fetch back the errant bird, but that unfortunate youth had to take some sharp bites and cuffa before he succeeded in safely housing the truculent wanderer. Later in the day I 'Captain Faifchild kindly presented one to a young gentleman named Walter Haybittle, who accepted it with the utmost glee, and started off home with it, thinking it would greatly amuse the baby. He called a cab, entered it with his prize, and drove off. The penguin at first remained .quiet,., calinlv surveying, its novel' surroundings, and apparently maturing its plan of action. At length it suddenly arose and made a vigorous onslaught on its custodian. The latter defended himself gallantly, and a fierce hand to hand (or hand to wing), fight, ensued. At first, the feathered biped got rather the worse of tile 'encounter, the other biped managing to get it down and hold it firmly by the throat. The penguin, however, struggled, and fought on the defensive with undiminisbed strength and ferocity, while young Haybittle soon began to tire under the continued strain. At length the penguin contrived to extricate its neck from Haybittle'a grasp and promptly .assumed the offensive, making a desperate attack on its opponent. Very soon the tables were completely turned, and instead of Haybittle getting the penguin down, the penguin got him down, and held him down too, seizing his nose in its powerful beak, and holding it with extraordinary tenacity and resolution, also . cuffing him soundly /{with its: wings. Poor Haybittle.. defended himself gallantly for" a time, although suffering acute pain, while the blood streamed down his face. He struggled violently to free himself from the vice-like (and vicious) grasp of hia fellow biped, but all in vain. The more he kicked and writhed the tighter the remorseless penguin held on to his nose, until at length it seemed as if " something must go" and his face be for ever bereaved of its most prominent feature. At last, feeling be had dove enough for honor and glory, and all that could ppesibly be expected of him, he yielded unconditionally to the victorious peoguiD, but the latter, offjnded at Haybittle'a having presumed to take charge of him, determined that he would take charge of Haybittle, and declined to relinquish tbe custody of his prisoner, tbeir relative p sitions being entirely reversed. Haybittle was then oblige! to appeal to outside help -«m in other words, ho " roared ten thousand murders." Assistance at length came, and he was rescued with very great difficulty from tha beak of the triumphant penguin, when he was found to be covered with blood, and his nose almost as large as all the rest of his head.. t He came to the conclusion that the baby would not cafe much for a penguin and that it was not worth while taking it home. ... ;