THE ADELIE PENGUIN. 49 



Turning to our own observations for the summer months of September to April, 

 when the birds were with us at Cape Royds and Cape Crozier, we found that the lowest 

 monthly mean was - 18-7° F. for September, and that it gradually rose each month, 

 standing at - 8 • 5° F. for October, + 12 • 0° F. for November, + °23 • 1° F. for December, 

 till it reached +26-1° F. for January, then falling to + 1 1 • 2° F. in February, - • 8° F. 

 in March, and — 16 • 9° F. in April, when the bird was no more seen with us. The lowest 

 temperature the bird would be subjected to during these months was —41*8° F. in 

 October, 1902, and -43-8° F. in October, 1903. In November the temperature was 

 rarely below zero, and in December and January was from 4° to 9° above. Perhaps the 

 saving grace of the Antarctic climate is the fact that with the lowest temperatures there 

 is rarely any wind. No sooner does a blizzard threaten from the S.W. than the 

 temperature begins to rise, and in twelve hom-s it may have risen from 40'' below 

 zero to nearly 30° above it. With this rise in temperature comes the wind and 

 snowdrift, and while camping in the rookery at Cape Eoyds in January, 1904, we 

 found no little interest in wandering among the penguins and skuas to see how 

 they faced a blizzard. Much fresh snow was falling, and still more perhaps was drifting. 

 At the onset it was noticeable that the adults which were able to leave their nests 

 did so, and went out to sea in a great hurry. Whether they did this because they 

 found it warmer to be out of the wind and in the water, or because they knew 

 that a gale brought in more food, I cannot say. Such as remained on land looked 

 miserable enough, and they squatted with their backs to the weather, so that the 

 feathers were blown up the wrong way and got filled with drift. The chickens in 

 their down were more comfortable. Forming themselves into big rounded masses by 

 collecting in groups of fifteen to twenty birds, each bird headed for the centre till 

 neither shape nor form was visible. Inside the heap they must indeed have been 

 quite warm ; but the outer ones were white with snow. 



Up to January 9th, at Cape Royds the chicks were still all in their several 

 nests, being tended and jealously watched, and kept from wandering or being inter- 

 fered with, by their parents ; two chicks were in every nest, but often remarkably 

 different in size, one being twice as big as the other, and probably three days 

 older. Some chicks were almost too big to be nursed, and one might see the quaint 

 figure of a chicken more than half as big as its parent still being " sat on," though 

 nothing but the head and neck could find a covering between the parent's legs. There 

 was noticeable also for the first time on this date, January 9th, a tendency for the chicks 

 to huddle more in heaps together. As yet, however, there has been none of the 

 eager clamouring for food that accompanies the chase of the unhappy parents. The 

 huddling together of the chickens which have wandered from their nests is at this stage 

 much encouraged by the old birds, who station a few reliable guardians in a circle round 

 tlie creche {see fig. 30, p. 42), while the majority give themselves up more persistently 

 than before to the supplying of their offspring's needs. And, while many of the 

 chickens huddle close together for mutual warmth and comfort, a number may be seen 



