A Strange Industry.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2067, 11 January 1898, Page 2

A Strange Industry.

One. of the strangest industries in New Zealand is that of boiling birds for the oil they contain.. It is Garried on at Macquarrie Islands- under the direo- : tion< of an Invercargill merchant.. The birds, are penguins, and in the seasonthey are- driven by the thousands- like : sheep killed and thrown into, the pot.. ; There are two boiling, down stations, one -the Southend’, and' the other- at 'what is known as Lusitania Bay. The j rookery at the former covers 25. to 30 acres and is estimated to- carry twomillion and a half birds—penguins, of a species known. as royals.. Lusitania, is- occupied by king penguins weighing, when fat, about 301 b. Of these there are supposed to be 4.00,000 to i 500,000 t Between these places there ! are other smaller rookeries which! together equal m numbers those of Sbusthend. The-birds are continually on- the move between- their nestingsand the sea. A tally kept of these movements, that! they passed up and dbwn at the rate- of 100 per minute each way all day long. In the marching, and countermarching the rule of the road is strictly maintained 1 . During, night, which in these southern, latitudes in the summer lasts about IT p.m. till 3- a m the- movement slackens. Business of the hatching season: is carried on. with the- utmost regularity,, the male and female relieving each other every three- days, Breeding, birds come and go- as they find convenient, but those that have moulted : disappear for about 12. months. It is known that they go souths but their destination has not been ascertained. For purposes of the working party fat birds are- selected, those a year old being much sought after;. Whenkilled they are bled and cleaned, and; afterwards thrown into the digesters,, feathers and all, where they are steamed some horn s.. The season for fat birds lasts six weeks, during which the party is kept at. work night and day. After the oil is extracted thedigesters are emptied, and the refuse disposed of out of the way- If it could be readily shipped it might become valuable as a fertiliser..