13 

 THE EMPEROR PENftUIN. 



that has been recorfed of the wide distnbutiou a.d compatat.vely 'jV »* J™" 

 of this bird. I should myself say most certainly not. It .s to be -' -* » ' ^ * 

 Antatetic region. The fact of the death-rate be.ng high at the "^ "''«>;'' j;_^ 

 located, a rookery which was situated almost as far south as the bud ''-^'« ^°™ 

 known t. wander, even in the summer months, does not necessanly ^^"^^^l^^^^ 

 be as h,.h in every other rookery. There may be certam conditions at tks sp t, loea 

 a .climatic, which would account for an extra high -^f -'y- /"^ ^ ,1 

 have already suggested, that the bird has a great longevity »d that th.s 

 extent counteracts the effect of a high rate of death m ."*«"=)'• 



^A verv cathetic sight was to be seen, resultmg from the mtense desire oltne 

 unemployed adlfo" mother" something. Having neither '^^^^^^ 

 they are reduced to mothering the dead, and so it was no uncommon thing to see an 

 * bW trying to coax a frozen infant into a comfortable position between its legs^ol 

 se he head and neck of a lifeless chicken trailing out behind by the old bird s U.^. 

 To s ctan extent was this practised that very few of the *'*»; f'-^J^/j^ , 

 ieeSoe were in a fit condition tor making specimens. The down was m most "»■="'»" 



V .-- - f it ^^:t^z rin::irritt:rmi:ti::as 



X[o;?;:s:t::ni;:Uf:\::o:: L „f the specimens found dead wou.d have 

 been worth preservin... As it was. however, we brought a number of them home 



Isttrie f t.: chicks increased, the difficulty of covering them up with the ap 

 „ewteater and when we visited them on the 19th of October we saw quite a numbe 



13,1; head and shoulders alone were out of sight. *>^'^«';^^^ 

 "uaTls covered with greyish down sticking out behind, su^ounted by a shot bl^^ 



Sometimes the chick would face the same way as the parent, and hen but ttlc 

 of its altmy was out of sight, for the main incase in bu. w. in «;<;-..- 

 of its body, till the little individual became almost pyramidal m hape. Ihe le„,^an 

 ?ee tf archicks soon became comparatively coarse and heavy ior their size. Th y 

 ertaMv need to have them hard and horny, living as they do on the old birds sealy 

 r,.eir« would it do them .any harm to have the part, a»„i,d the anus also horny, 

 for in some cases these parts were so abraded as to be raw and bleeding. 



The usual position taken up in the earlier stages was a crouching "'»"'»«* 

 the h!ad as lowl the feet, and it appeared t. mi*e ^ ^^^^ ^^ 

 sat uprioht on its nurse's feet or lay upon its side. Ihe clucks wnen j 

 • wisTl so Ion. as the nurse keeps still, but have the power, and use it frequent y, of 

 ;itg the head out from beneath the flap to look about and whistle for more food. 



* P.of. Ben ha. .inai, obtained fo. .e, .o. ff^^^^' tirZ^rlSVe^ ^^^ all 

 Emperor Pengviin so far as H ..ay be deduced from the fo.ego.g fact. As^u. ^^^^^ ^^ 



tbe birds in the rookery live to the average age . and then die, then the. must be -^ 



,e.r 1-'°^^ die so that in order to Keep the population stationary, if -- = 30, the average age - 34. ,ears. 



